Who said, “Value is the present worth of future benefits”?

I think an accounting teacher I had way back in high school.

My contractor told me that. Also later I saw that written on a sign in a high priced tile showroom store. Such BS sent me to the Home Depot ti buy tile cheap. That was 10 years ago and the cheap tile still looks great.

That sounds like standard accounting. If you are going to receive amount M in n years with an assumed inflation rate of i then the present value V=M/(1+i)^n

@LostInParadise Thanks for the formula. The quote does sound like something out of accounting, doesn’t it? (Present value, future value, etc.) Sorry if I confused folks. I believe, however, that the author in this instance was writing in a different context. I think that he/she was dealing with how one deals with certain life decisions. Does this now ring a bell for anyone?