Today's worth of a future amount
Enter future amount, discount rate per period and number of periods to work out the today's worth of a future amount.
A dollar next year is worth less than a dollar today, because today’s dollar can be earning in the meantime. This works out what you would need to hold now to end up with the amount you have been promised.
The discount rate is your call rather than a lookup. It stands for the return you could get on the money instead. Raise it and waiting costs more; stretch the wait and it costs more again. At 7%, twenty thousand dollars ten years out is worth a shade over half that today.
Rate and periods have to match, annual with years or monthly with months. The figure also assumes the money certainly turns up. If there is any doubt it does, it is worth less than this.