Daniel Jassy, CFA, is an Investopedia Academy instructor and the founder of SPYderCRusher Research. He contributes to Excel and Algorithmic Trading. Suzanne is a content marketer, writer, and ...

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 ...

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 ...