Payback Period Calculator

Payback is how long an outlay takes to come back, and this tool measures it both ways. Enter the cash flows with the outlay first, or an investment and a level amount coming back each period, and it returns the simple payback period, the discounted one at the rate you set, the running balance after every period, and whether each figure clears a cutoff you would accept. The part period is interpolated from the shortfall left at the end of the period before the crossing. Payback deliberately ignores everything that happens after the money is back, so it is a liquidity test rather than a profitability one and belongs next to net present value, not instead of it.