Yes, I need some of my money now to pay my expenses. But if you had 200K extra to invest in 2010 and chose to invest it and instead chose to work somewhere paying $200K less than you could have thinking I can make $200K more in 14 years. You would have lost out on 605% returns.

> Money is valuable for its uses, not intrinsically.

Investing in it’s truest form is consuming money to make entirely new goods and services.

To put it one more way. If the treasury was paying zero percent forever. Would there still be time value of money? Absolutely.

What do you think you are doing when you “invest” in the stock market?

Yes I know when you buy stocks aside from the IPO or secondary offering you’re buying from other people and the company doesn’t get the money directly.

They spend it to accomplish a goal. The ability to accomplish that goal now is more valuable than the cash.

The culture of HN is certainly still alive

Also a note, it seems wikipedia agrees with investopedia here —- and the equations of TVM include interest rates and compounding.

You have a point on the WHY, but I think TVM may just take that as an assumption.

The value of the money to you or the business is worth more now than 10 years from now. Meaning just like I said, it makes more sense for you as an individual to have made $300K and live off $100K and invest it in 2010 than to wallow in obscurity at failing startups and then start saving at 35.

This is the textbook definition of the time value of money - as quoted from Investopedia.

- money is more valuable now because you can start earning interest - but why are others willing to pay interest? - because the money is more valuable to them now