When you invest, you are committing money or another resource
in the expectation of some future benefit.
A college education, for example, can be considered an investment
because you invest your time (a resource) in hopes of earning a
degree and a good job after graduating (the future benefit).
In a financial sense, investing means that an individual commits
money to a financial asset, or security, such as a stock or bond,
in hopes of receiving even more money later.
The potential of receiving more money later is the reason why people
invest in the first place.