Annuities are an essential concept in both individual finance and corporate finance contexts. A simple annuity is a series of equal payments made at equal intervals over a specified period. Perpetuities are a special class of annuities which literally go on forever. Between 1751 and 2015 the British Government had a number of these (potentially)

Payback period is a fundamental investment appraisal technique in corporate financial management. It is a measure of how long it takes for a company to recover its initial investment in a project. It is one of the simplest capital budgeting techniques and, for this reason, is commonly used to evaluate and compare capital projects.  

Once again there are rumblings and warnings of a fresh financial crisis along the lines of 2008. Banks are supposedly better regulated now, and have generally lower corporate lending levels. Potential banking fallout should therefore be less dramatic than that witnessed in the period following 2008. However, this will not stop a number of banks