Reply #3: Money math is funny math

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

If you start collecting $300 million a year for the next ten years, you could sum it up to $3 trillion.

Or, you could calculate that the $300 million a year for the next ten years has a net present value of $1.3 trillion, which varies based on expected return on investments, etc.

The same sort of math works for lotteries: If you won a lottery that pays 1 million a year for 20 years, you can generally elect to take it all in one lump sum. That lump sum will not be $20 million, it will be much less because of the net-present-value calculation.

I didn't see the show, so have no idea what Chuck Todd was talking about.

:hi: