You've just learned that you inherited $500,000 from a long-lost relative. Now you need to decide how to invest the money. Your grandfather recommends that you put the money in your local savings and loan, which has an insured savings account earning 3.5% nominal interest rate annually, compounded monthly. Your cousin, who is a stockbroker, recommends that you invest the money in the stock market. She points out that her clients have been earning an average rate of return of 8.0% per year over the last 20 years depending on what stock you choose, although at present the returns are negative.
a) Assuming that you want to use the money for retirement in 40 years, should you listen to your grandfather or your cousin? Give your reason(s).
b) After you retire, you want to be able to earn at least $50,000 per year in 2014 dollars. How much income will you need to earn in 2054 dollars? Assume the inflation rate is 2.0% per year.
c) You retire in 2054 and you want to maintain your income in 2054 dollars the same as you calculate from b). Assume your money will be in the savings account earning a constant 5.0% annually (this is the nominal rate!) and the interest made on the account is the only source of your income. How much money do you need to put in the saving account in 2051? Assume the inflation rate is still 2.0% per year since 2054. Hint: Plot the cash flow diagram for yourself.
In this case you take the same amount of money from the account every year and leave the principle (the money you put in the beginning) to be the same to the next year. Also for this problem you need to decide to use the real interest rate or the nominal rate. * For this and all subsequent assignments using Excel (unless otherwise specified), please hand in both a printout of your spreadsheet and a printout of the equations you used to help us identify the source of any errors.