Will Kenton is an expert on the economy and investing laws and regulations. He previously held senior editorial roles at Investopedia and Kapitall Wire and holds a MA in Economics from The New School ...

Imagine investing in a promising project, only to realize years later that it’s taking far longer than expected to recoup your initial outlay. Wouldn’t it have been invaluable to know upfront how long ...

What Is a Payback Period? The payback period is the amount of time (usually measured in years) it takes to recover an initial investment outlay—as measured in after-tax cash flows. For example, if a ...

Julia Kagan is a financial/consumer journalist and former senior editor, personal finance, of Investopedia. David Kindness is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and an expert in the fields of ...

Definition: An investment’s payback period in years is equal to the net investment amount divided by the average annual cash flow from the investment. What it means: How long will it take to get my ...