Valuing annuities #
Finding the present value of a series of equal payments
- So far we have considered the calculation of the present value and the accumulated value of single cash flows.
- It is quite common in practice for the same cash flows to be repeated
many times. For example,
- a new home owner may repay the bank $500 every fortnight over a 25 year period
- or a life insurance company might pay a retiree $1,500 every month for the rest of the person’s life.
- In order to value (that is, to find the present value of) a series of payments, we could find the present value of each individual payment in the series of payments and sum the resulting series.
- This approach will very quickly become tedious for long series of cash flows. We therefore develop formulae for finding the present value of streams of equal payments.
Annuity in arrears – Annuity-Immediate #
Definition #
Consider the figure below which contains
We perform this calculation very often and so we give a symbol for
the present value result. Define
the payments are made at the end of each year.
Example 1 #
- Write down an expression in terms
for - Use part (1) and the definition of
to derive an expression for Hence show that - If we rearrange our result from (2), we get
Interpret this expression in terms of a loan of $1 and the associated repayments.
Solution to Part 1 #
We have
Solution to Part 2 #
Subtract the definition from the result in (1) to get
Solution to Part 3 #
We need to interpret
The present value of the borrowings ($1) must equal the present value of the interest repayments
Part 3: A concrete example #
- Take
. That is to say, - Suppose I lend you $100 and charge you interest at 5% per annum effective. This means your debt in one year’s time will be $105.
- Suppose you repay $5 at the end of 1 year – you have repaid the interest only, and still owe me $100.
- At the end of the second year you again repay $5 – your debt is still $100.
- Suppose this pattern continues for 10 years – each year you pay $5 at the year end, and at the end of the 10th year you repay the $100.
- Your repayments can be represented as a 10 year annuity in arrears of amount 5, and a payment of 100 at time 10 years.
- As my loan has been repaid, the present value of my outgo equals that of my income, i.e.
Part 2: Alternative derivation #
How else could you derive the result in (2)?
By using the sum of a geometric progression with
Annuity in advance – Annuity-Due #
Definition #
- The annuity we considered above is called an annuity in arrears since the
payments are made at the end of each of the
years. - Suppose instead that the payments are made at the start of each of
the
years. - The annuity is then called an annuity in advance, or annuity-due.
- Mark the payments and the valuation date on the diagram below for an
year annuity in advance. - The present value of an annuity in advance is written as
and is pronounced “a due .”
Example 2 #
- Write down a sum in terms of
for . - Explain in words why
- Show that
Solution to Part 1 #
We have
Solution to Part 2 #
The number of payments and the valuation interest rates are the same. The only difference is that payments occur one year earlier in
Solution to Part 3 #
Using our definition for
Example 3 #
- Find the PV of 20 annual payments of $1,000 at 6% per annum effective with the first payment due in 12 months’ time.
- Find the PV of 15 annual payments of $700 at 5% per annum effective with the first payment due immediately.
Solutions:
Some reasonableness checks for annuities #
Quite often in actuarial work, we are involved with very complex calculations. It is useful to be able to place a rough check (a reasonableness check) on our work at the end. This can be a useful way to remove any careless errors that we may have been made during the course of our work.
First check #
First, (assuming
Second check #
Second, (assuming
Third check #
Third, consider the amounts and the timing of the payments:
- Each of the
payments is of amount 1, so the total amount is . - The payment times are
, so the average payment time is Hence, an approximation of is
For example, compare at 6%:
Example 4 #
- Calculate the PV of a series of payments of $100 at the end of each of the next 20 years at 9% per annum effective.
- Calculate the PV of a series of payments of $100 at the beginning of each of the next 15 years at 8% per annum convertible quarterly.
- Apply a reasonableness check to your answer to Part (2).
Solutions:
- The PV is
- The PV is
where . - The PV is approximately
($\frac{1}{15}\times\frac{1}{2}\times 14\times 15=7$)
Perpetuities #
Definition #
- In fact, this infinite term annuity seen before is called a perpetuity, and is written
- This can also be used as a building block to derive annuity formulas.
Example 5 #
Derive the formula for an annuity-immediate
Solution:
- Consider the difference between two infinite series of payment of 1, one starting now with present value
and one starting in years with present value - The difference in cash flows corresponds exactly to that of an annuity-immediate over
years, with present value as required.
Deferred annuities #
Definition #
We now develop formulae for annuities where the first payment is delayed by
Consider first the annuity in arrears. In the non-deferred case, the first payment is made at the end of the first year, that is, at time 1. In the deferred annuity, the first payment is therefore made at time
The notation used for the present value of an
Example 6 #
- Write down an expression for
in terms of . - Write an expression for
in terms of , and
Solutions:
- From above, the expression for
involves years further discounting for each term than is required under Therefore, we have
Formula
#
Proof of
#
Using the result in part (2) of Example 6 above, we have
Interpretation #
Example 7 #
Find the PV of a series of 15 payments of $1 at yearly intervals beginning 11 years from now. Use an interest rate of 7% per annum effective.
- Method One: The PV is
- Method Two: The PV is
- Rough Check: PV
Annuities payable in partial payments
#
Annuities payable -thly
#
- We have already discussed annuities where payments are made for
years with one payment of $1 each year. - We now break up that single payment of $1 into
payments each of $ - Consider the following timeline and mark on the payments for a
year annuity with payments made times per year, where each payment is made at the end of -th of a year.
-thly annuity in arrears / annuity-immediate
#
The notation used for an
Subtracting the first identity from the second gives
$$a_{\angl{n}}^{(m)}\left( (1+i)^{1/m}-1\right) =\frac{1}{m}\left( 1-v^{nm/m}\right) $$ or, equivalently,
-thly annuity-due
#
The notation used for an
Examples #
Example 8 #
Find the PV of $100 per annum payable quarterly in arrears for 10 years at 7.5% per annum effective.
Solution:
We have
Example 9 #
Find the PV of $100 per annum payable quarterly in arrears for 10 years given interest is 8% per annum convertible quarterly.
Solution:
Alternative derivations #
An alternative expression for
#
Changing the time unit,
In the above formula,
- The time unit is
of a year; is the effective interest rate per time unit; is the discount per time unit ($1/m$ of a year); is the amount of payment per unit of time; is the number of payments.
An alternative expression for – Using perpetuities
#
By analogy, we have
Accumulated values of annuities #
Definition #
- Consider a superannuation fund into which payments are made during the working life of an individual. These payments will form a regular stream of payments and we are interested in knowing how much these payments will be worth at retirement, when interest is applied to each of the payments.
- We therefore are often interested in calculating the accumulated value of an annuity.
represents the accumulation at time of a series of payments of 1 at unit intervals in arrears (i.e. at times ). Mark the payments and the valuation date on the timeline below.
Accumulated value of an annuity in arrears #
We derive an expression for
Relationship between and
#
We now derive a relationship between
Result:
Proof:
Accumulated values of an annuity-due #
Suppose now that the
We aim to find the value of these payments at time
Notation:
Examples #
Example 10 #
- Write down an expression in terms of
and for - Show that
Solutions:
Example 11 #
- Find the PV of a series of 10 payments of $100 at yearly intervals. The first payment is due in 3 months’ time. The interest rate is 8% per annum effective.
- From first principles, find the accumulated value of the series above at time 12 years.
- Check that your answers are consistent.
Solutions:
- The PV is
- The accumulated value is
- The valuation dates are 12 years apart. We can verify that
Further variations on annuities #
Annuities payable less frequently than once a year #
- Consider an annuity with regular payments of $200 payable at two yearly intervals in arrears.
- The final payment is made after 20 years.
- Find the PV at 6% per annum effective.
Method 1: Using First Principles
- Summing up the PVs of the individual payments, we get
Method 2: Change the time unit
- New time unit is two-year
- The effective 2-year interest rate is
such that - The 2-year discount factor is
.
Then the PV of this annuity is
Annuities with variable interest rate #
Consider the following
- If the effective annual interest rate is
throughout the term, then the PV of the annuity is , and the accumulated value is
- If the interest rate is
by time years, and the interest rate is after time years, then the PV of the annuity is
Annuities with variable payment amounts #
Consider the following annuity in arrears with term
Define
References #
Atkinson, M. E., and David C. M. Dickson. 2011. An Introduction to Actuarial Studies. 2nd ed. Edward Elgar.