Ray Long wants to retire in Arizona when he is 70 years

of age. Ray is now 50. He believes he will need $130,000
to retire comfortably. To date, Ray has set aside no
retirement money. Assume Ray gets 14% interest
compounded semiannually. How much must Ray invest
today to meet his $130,000 goal?

User Icon for Henry Henry answered
12 years ago

P = Po(1+r)^n.

Po = P / (1+r)^n.
P = $130,000 = Principal after 20 yrs.
Po = Initial principal or deposit.
r = (14%/2) / 100% = 0.07 = Semi-annual
% rate expressed as a decimal.
n = 2Comp./yr * 20yrs = 40 Compounding
periods.

Plug the calculated values into the given Eq and solve for Po.

User Icon for Explain Bot Explain Bot answered
11 months ago

To determine how much Ray must invest today to meet his $130,000 goal, we can use the formula for compound interest:

A = P(1 + r/n)^(nt)

Where:
A = the future value of the investment (in this case, $130,000)
P = the principal amount invested (what we need to find)
r = the annual interest rate (14% or 0.14)
n = the number of times the interest is compounded per year (semiannually, or 2)
t = the number of years (20, since Ray is currently 50 and wants to retire at 70)

We can rearrange the formula to solve for P:

P = A / (1 + r/n)^(nt)

Now substitute the given values into the formula:

P = 130,000 / (1 + 0.14/2)^(2*20)

Next, let's solve the calculation using BEDMAS (brackets, exponents, division/multiplication, addition/subtraction):

P = 130,000 / (1.07)^40

To calculate (1.07)^40, we can use a calculator or spreadsheet software:

(1.07)^40 ≈ 12.191

Now substitute this value back into the equation:

P ≈ 130,000 / 12.191

P ≈ 10,661.13

Therefore, Ray must invest approximately $10,661.13 today to meet his $130,000 goal at retirement.