Retail stock valuations depend heavily on consumer spending forecasts. Analysts use "what is NPV in finance" to model post-holiday cash flow trends, showing that strong back-to-school sales could lift NPVs for apparel chains by up to 7%. If this estimate holds true, the upside in lithium is likely to be significant in the next five years. This will also translate into a big rally for some of the best lithium stocks. This column focuses on three lithium stocks to buy that have the potential to make millionaires by the end of the decade. So, the focus is firmly on how to evolve and enhance FPS, rather than a full replacement. The next steps will be to set out greater detail on the FPS upgrades – for example to handle ISO 20022 data; and enhancements to support ecommerce payments via Open Banking – and then to assess future requirements that might entail “looking beyond Faster Payments”. For banking stocks, "what is NPV in finance" helps forecast loan portfolio impacts. Higher-for-longer interest rates increase discount factors, lowering NPVs for mortgage-heavy banks, while boosting NPVs for lending arms focused on corporate credit lines.