A key concept in economics and finance is the time value of money.

Most investment decisions, like buying a house, paying for your education, or starting a business, involve making a payment up front in order to earn a return later. (You pay money out at one or more points in time and later receive your benefits based on the investment's agreement.)

Additionally, economic factors such as supply and demand can play an important role in your investment process. If there is a huge supply of houses available in a neighborhood you like, housing prices in that neighborhood may go down due to a lack of current demand. Therefore, you as the buyer have more power and may be able to make an offer that is lower than the initial asking price.

Alternatively, in a neighborhood that is very much in demand and low in available housing, the housing prices may be higher and you may need to offer to pay more to compete with other offers for a home there.

Decisions in investments can end in a variety of ways. Applying your problem solving skill and critical thinking strategies can help you successfully analyze opportunities to bring the best benefits for your efforts. Adjusting for the time value of money lets you calculate if the rewards are worth the wait so that you can arrive at an informed decision before you commit your money.

Initial Post: Identify an investment decision that you, someone you know, or someone fictitious has made (for example, stocks, bonds, real estate, a car, a house, a degree or certificate, et cetera):

• How do you think the concept of supply and demand impacted the investment decision?
• Now that you understand the time value of money, how could we use our problem solving skill (especially critical thinking strategies) to rethink the decision in the future?

Response Post: To receive full points, please respond to at least one post from your classmates. Be sure to acknowledge their comments and further the conversation by adding your own insights or asking an additional question on the topic

Grammar and Mechanics: Please keep in mind that Discussions are public forums, so be sure to type your post directly in the Discussion board (not as an attachment). Avoid language that may be offensive and double-check your grammar and spelling before submitting your final post.

example: Three years ago I invested in a shipping business with a friend and the demand of shipping was high during the peak seasons between December and February but our supply was not matching up with the demands and during the process we lost some money. Taking this course is making we rethink the strategies we took before that didn't work for us and how we can better problem-solve the issues next time so that we don't run into a loss in the future.