For example, given the choice between receiving $1 today or $1 a year from now, you should take the money today. You could invest that $1, and even if you only earned a 2 percent annual return on your investment, you still would have $1.02 a year from now -- more than the $1 you'd have gotten if you waited. If you didn't invest that $1 at all but simply spent it, you'd still be better off; because of inflation, the $1 usually will have more buying power today than in the future.