Imagine a stranger offers you a choice: they will either give you $10000 right now or give you $10,000 exactly five years from today. Which one do you take? Unless you dislike immediate wealth, you would choose the cash today. Why? Because you intuitively understand that money today is worth more than the same amount in the future. You could put that $10,000 into a high-yield savings account, buy stocks, or invest in real estate