NPER (Primitive Spread Function) returns the number of periods for an investment based on a present value, future value, periodic payments, and a specified interest rate.

SYNTAX:

NPER(Rate, Pmt, Pv, Fv, Type)

REMARKS:

Arguments are as follows:

Argument Description 
Rate Interest rate expressed as percentage (per period) 
Pmt Payment made each period; cannot change over life of the annuity 
Pv Present value 
Fv (Optional) Future value
If omitted, it is assumed to be 0. 
Type (Optional) Indicates when payments are due
If omitted, it is assumed that the payments are made at the end of the period. 
 Set Type equal to                                   If payments are due 
 0                                                         At the end of the period 
 1                                                         At the beginning of the period 

Note: You must specify a value for the Fv argument if you are going to specify a value for the Type argument. 

Be sure to express the interest rate as per period. For example, if you make monthly payments on a loan at 8 percent interest, use 0.08/12 for the Rate argument.

For all the arguments, money paid out such as deposits in an investment, is represented by negative numbers; money you receive, such as dividend checks, is represented by positive numbers.

See the PV function for the formula used to calculate financial values. 

EXAMPLES:

NPER(0.005,-790,90000,0,1)=167.7227522114