Perpetuity

A perpetuity is an annuity that has no end, or a stream of cash payments that continues forever. There are few actual perpetuities in existence. For example, the United Kingdom (UK) government issued them in the past; these were known as consols and were all finally redeemed in 2015. Real estate and preferred stock are among some types of investments that effect the results of a perpetuity, and prices can be established using techniques for valuing a perpetuity. Perpetuities are but one of the time value of money methods for valuing financial assets. Perpetuities are a form of ordinary annuities. A perpetuity is an annuity that has no end, or a stream of cash payments that continues forever. There are few actual perpetuities in existence. For example, the United Kingdom (UK) government issued them in the past; these were known as consols and were all finally redeemed in 2015. Real estate and preferred stock are among some types of investments that effect the results of a perpetuity, and prices can be established using techniques for valuing a perpetuity. Perpetuities are but one of the time value of money methods for valuing financial assets. Perpetuities are a form of ordinary annuities. The concept is closely linked to terminal value and terminal growth rate in valuation. A perpetuity is an annuity in which the periodic payments begin on a fixed date and continue indefinitely. It is sometimes referred to as a perpetual annuity. Fixed coupon payments on permanently invested (irredeemable) sums of money are prime examples of perpetuities. Scholarships paid perpetually from an endowment fit the definition of perpetuity. The value of the perpetuity is finite because receipts that are anticipated far in the future have extremely low present value (present value of the future cash flows). Unlike a typical bond, because the principal is never repaid, there is no present value for the principal. Assuming that payments begin at the end of the current period, the price of a perpetuity is simply the coupon amount over the appropriate discount rate or yield; that is, where PV = present value of the perpetuity, A = the amount of the periodic payment, and r = yield, discount rate or interest rate.