You can earn interest on money you save. This interest increases the value of your money. This is sometimes called the time value of money. The longer you save, the more your money grows.

Your local bank provides several ways you can save money such as savings accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit (CD’s).

In this exercise you will see how your money grows at different interest rates for different amounts of time.

You will create a worksheet that shows how $1000 grows after one year at different rates.

Setting up the worksheet

You will begin by setting up a worksheet that looks like this:

1. Enter Value of Money over Time Starting with….. in cell A1.
2. Enter 1000 in cell A2.
3. Enter Annual Rates in cell A3.
4. Enter Future Value in cell B3.
5. Adjust the column widths.
6. Enter 3.0% in cell A4.
7. Enter 3.5% in cell A5.
8. Highlight cells A4 and A5.
9. Drag the fill handle down to cell A18.

Release the mouse. You will see a series of rates.

A series is a sequential list of numbers or words. For example, you can create a series for the months of the year if you enter January and February.