WiseCalc

Payback Period Calculator

Estimate simple payback from an initial investment and constant annual net cash flow accrued evenly throughout each year.

Simple undiscounted payback in years, with USD cash flow accrued uniformly at the entered constant annual net rate. Initial investment occurs at time zero. Fractional recovery assumes cash arrives evenly through the year, rather than only at year-end. Inflation, taxes, financing and changing cash flows are excluded. Zero initial investment is recovered at time zero, even if later cash flow is negative. Ordinary durations are rounded to two decimals, with ties rounded up; very small or large durations use scientific notation.

Inputs

$
$0$100,000
$
$-20,000$20,000

Results

Payback Period
4.00 years
Time to recover investment

Cumulative Cash Flow Over Time

The chart shows time zero and annual balances over at most 30 years, plus fractional recovery when it is inside that window. A recovery beyond the chart window is still reported. No horizon limits the payback formula.

  • Cumulative Net Cash Flow

  1. Year 0: Cumulative Net Cash Flow: -$10,000.00.

  2. Year 1: Cumulative Net Cash Flow: -$7,500.00.

  3. Year 2: Cumulative Net Cash Flow: -$5,000.00.

  4. Year 3: Cumulative Net Cash Flow: -$2,500.00.

  5. Year 4: Cumulative Net Cash Flow: $0.00.

  6. Year 5: Cumulative Net Cash Flow: $2,500.00.

Model and timing

Simple undiscounted payback in years, with USD cash flow accrued uniformly at the entered constant annual net rate. Initial investment occurs at time zero. Fractional recovery assumes cash arrives evenly through the year, rather than only at year-end. Inflation, taxes, financing and changing cash flows are excluded. Zero initial investment is recovered at time zero, even if later cash flow is negative. Ordinary durations are rounded to two decimals, with ties rounded up; very small or large durations use scientific notation.

The chart shows time zero and annual balances over at most 30 years, plus fractional recovery when it is inside that window. A recovery beyond the chart window is still reported. No horizon limits the payback formula.