A meaning to look forward to

Suppose you win a small lottery and have the choice of two ways to be paid: you can accept the money in a lump sum or in a series of payments over time. if you pick the lump sum, you get $2,950 today. if you pick payments over time, you get three payments: $1,000 today, $1,000 1 year from today, and $1,000 2 years from today. 1) at an interest rate of 6% per year, the winner would be better off accepting the (lump sum / payments over time), since it has the greater present value. 2) at an interest rate of 9% per year, the winner would be better off accepting the (lump sum / payments over time), since it has the greater present value. 3) years after you win the lottery, a friend in another country calls to ask your advice. by wild coincidence, she has just won another lottery with the same payout schemes. she must make a quick decision about whether to collect her money under the lump sum or the payments over time. what is the best advice to give your friend? a) the lump sum is always better. b) the payments over time are always better. c) it will depend on the interest rate; advise her to get a calculator. d) none of these answers is good advice.

Asmall town wants to build some new recreational facilities. the proposed facilities include a swimming pool, recreation center, basketball court and baseball field. the town council wants to provide the facilities which will be used by the most people, but they face budget and land limitations. the town has $400,000 and 14 acres of land. the pool requires locker facilities which would be in the recreation center, so if the swimming pool is built the recreation center must also be built. also, the council has only enough flat land to build the basketball court or the baseball field. the daily usage and cost of the facilities (in $1,000) are shown below. which facilities should they build? facilityusagecost ($1,000)landswimming pool4001002recreation center5002003basketball court3001504baseball field2001005

Danielle puts 8 percent of her paycheck in a 401(k) plan administered by her employer. danielle earns $55,000 per year and is in the 28 percent tax category. what annual tax savings does she get from her contribution? if her employer matches contributions on the first 5% of her salary dollar for dollar and the second 5% 50 cents on the dollar, how much will her employer put into her account this year?