"An Unreal Number" examines pension accounting and, in particular, its effects on the results and financial position of the sponsor of a defined benefit pension plan. Current pension accounting standards are better than their predecessors because they seek to provide information about the value...

We portray the valuation of financial investments as mental time travel. In a series of thought investments, a $1 invested in an investment fund is projected forward in time and then discounted back to the present, both exponentially and hyperbolically. These thought investments feature...

PurposeTo portray the valuation of financial investments as mental time travel. Design/methodology/approachIn a series of thought investments, $1 invested in an investment fund is mentally projected forward in time and then discounted back to the present – with no objective time passing. The...

Valuing financial investments can be understood neatly within a framework of mental time travel: an initial sum is mentally projected forward in time; and the projected value mentally discounted back to the present. If there are differences between the initial and present values, then this...

We portray the valuation of retirement savings in terms of a mental time travel journey in which a proposed contribution to a pension plan is projected forward to the plan member’s retirement date and this projected value is then discounted back to today, thereby giving a present or personal...