Although money is not the Main Thing, it is a thing. It is a thing one can use to buy other things. We know this thing about money buying other things.
We understand money cannot buy all things. For example, we understand money cannot buy happiness.
However, money can buy Apple. The trillion-dollar iPhone company Apple, that is. (One trillion dollars is one thousand thousand thousand thousand dollars, or $1,000,000,000,000. That large number of dollars is simply absurd, isn't it?)
I don't have a trillion dollars, so I can't buy all of Apple. But I can buy a small part of Apple by using money to buy shares of Apple stock.
Buying shares of Apple stock seems to me a good thing to do with money. I greatly appreciate Apple, and over time Apple stock has greatly appreciated too.
If I had a time machine, I would use my time machine to travel back to 1980. I would take $600 with me, and I would use all $600 to buy shares of Apple stock back in 1980. Then I would return to 2020 and I would check in with my stock broker to see what my Apple shares are worth today.
Do you know what she would tell me? She would tell me my Apple shares are worth more than $300,000! That is a lot more money than just $600!
Hmm. I just had an idea. What if I sold my 2020 Apple shares for $300,000, and then what if I used the time machine to travel back to 1980 again, but this time I used $300,000 to buy Apple stock instead of just $600? When I returned to 2020, my Apple stock would be worth $150 million!
And if I used my time machine just one more time, I could turn that $150 million into $75 billion! Can you even imagine?
Oh this is the best money-making scheme I've ever conceived!
But first, I will need to use money to buy a time machine.