Check an investment with NPV and IRR
Spend 100k now, get 30/40/50/40k back over four years. At a 10% hurdle rate that is +25k of value — and the IRR says by how much it clears.
Tools used in this guide
The job
A yen next year is worth less than a yen today. NPV discounts every future cash flow back to today at your hurdle rate; a positive NPV means the project beats that rate. IRR is the discount rate where NPV is exactly zero — the project's own return.
Flows in, two numbers out
Enter the up-front investment, one net cash flow per line for each year, and your discount rate. The tool returns NPV in money and IRR in percent.
Worked example
100,000 invested, then yearly net flows of 30,000 / 40,000 / 50,000 / 40,000 (160,000 undiscounted): at a 10% rate the NPV is +25,217 and the IRR is 20.5% — the project clears a 10% hurdle by about ten points. If NPV keeps one sign across the whole scan — every yearly flow negative, say — the tool reports that no IRR was found rather than inventing one.
Scope
Up to 40 yearly flows, discount rate −99 to 1,000%. IRR is searched between −99% and 10,000%. Annual end-of-year timing only — no taxes, terminal value, or irregular intervals.