The term “present value” refers to an individual cash flow at one point in time, whereas the term “annuity” is used more generally to refer to a series of cash flows. The present value of an annuity is a calculation used to determine the current worth or cost of a fixed stream of future payments. In contrast, the annuity factor is used to calculate how much money must be invested at a given rate of return over a certain period for it to accumulate to a specific sum in the future.