In: Economics
You are an investor who wants to make your investment back as quickly as possible. There are four potential projects that you can invest in. Which project should you choose?
Project 1 | Project 2 | Project 3 | Project 4 | |
Initial Cost | $50,000 | $60,000 | $65,000 | $125,000 |
Annual Revenues | 8500 | 12,500 | 8,500 | 18,000 |
Length of Ownership | 6 | 4 | 9 | 10 |
Project 1
Calculate Payback Period -
Year | Cash Inflow | Cumulative Cash Inflow |
1 | 8500 | 8500 |
2 | 8500 | 17000 |
3 | 8500 | 25500 |
4 | 8500 | 34000 |
5 | 8500 | 42500 |
6 | 8500 | 51000 |
The initial investment is 50,000. Now, 42,500 is recovered in Year 5 and 7500 remains unrecovered.
So,
Payback period = 5 + (7500/8500) = 5 + 0.88 = 5.88 years
The payback period of Project 1 is 5.88 years.
Project 2
Calculate the payback period -
Year | Cash Inflow | Cumulative cash inflow |
1 | 12500 | 12500 |
2 | 12500 | 25000 |
3 | 12500 | 37500 |
4 | 12500 | 50000 |
The initial investment in the Project 2 is 60000. Over the entire lifetime of project, initial cost cannot be recovered.
Project 3
Calculate the Payback Period -
Year | Cash Inflow | Cumulative cash inflow |
1 | 8500 | 8500 |
2 | 8500 | 17000 |
3 | 8500 | 25500 |
4 | 8500 | 34000 |
5 | 8500 | 42500 |
6 | 8500 | 51000 |
7 | 8500 | 59500 |
8 | 8500 | 68000 |
9 | 8500 | 76500 |
The initial investment is 65,000. Now, 59,500 is recovered in Year 7 and 5500 remains unrecovered.
So,
Payback period = 7 + (5500/8500) = 7 + 0.65 = 7.65 years
The payback period of Project 3 is 7.65 years.
Project 4
Calculate the Payback Period -
Year | Cash Inflow | Cumulative Cash Inflow |
1 | 18000 | 18000 |
2 | 18000 | 36000 |
3 | 18000 | 54000 |
4 | 18000 | 72000 |
5 | 18000 | 90000 |
6 | 18000 | 108000 |
7 | 18000 | 126000 |
8 | 18000 | 144000 |
9 | 18000 | 162000 |
10 | 18000 | 180000 |
The initial investment is 125,000. Now, 108000 is recovered in Year 6 and 17000 remains unrecovered.
So,
Payback period = 6 + (17000/18000) = 6 + 0.94 = 6.94 years
The payback period of Project 4 is 6.94 years.
Investor wants to make his investment back as quickly as possible.
This means he wants to invest in that projectc which has the smallest payback period.
Project 1 has the smallest payback period.
So, Project 1 should be selected.