Original practice · fully worked
Original variant: budget for an exact two-date cash-flow match
A scholarship plan must pay 800 at the end of year 1 and 1,200 at the end of year 3. One- and three-year zero-coupon securities yield 4% and 6% annually. Calculate the total amount that must be invested today to match both payments exactly.
- A
1,599.10 - B
1,687.94 - C
1,776.77 - D
1,865.61 - E
1,954.45
Answer and calculation
The two matching investments are 769.23 and 1,007.54. Their total present cost is 1,776.77, choice C.
Setup
Setup
Assign each liability to the zero-coupon security with the same maturity.
I1=800(1.04)−1 I3=1200(1.06)−3 Model
Model
Because the cash flows are exactly matched, the required budget is the sum of the two present investments.
B=I1+I3 Compute
Compute
The year-1 security costs 769.23 and the year-3 security costs 1007.54, totaling 1776.77.
B=1776.773909 Answer
Answer
The matching budget is 1776.77, which is choice C.
B≈1776.77(C)