What to do with 150k

[Hards Alumni]

Buy Bitcoin.

[Skatastrophy]

Knowing absolutely zero about your life situation or financial situation...here's something pretty basic:

https://i.imgur.com/u0ocDRI.png

This is the best, broad, personal finance advice available on the internet.

[Herman Cain]

Got a settlement from workman's compensation and wi be receiving a tax free 150,000.


So far I've thought of these ideas:

8k into basement currently in middle of finishing
6k into paying off car
10k into an emergency savings account
Possibly looking at building new garage

Other then that I'm not sure what to put this towards. Should I put it all into a fund and let it grow? Should I put a sizeable amount into my mortgage payment?

Original thread: https://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=56609.msg1041911#msg1041911

Use entire proceeds to pay off all Debt, Car and Mortgage.  Any remaining proceeds put into Emergency Fund.

Cash Flow from having no  or low debt will enhance your life greatly.

[#UnleashSean]

Thanks for the replys everyone! Some basic info I should have put forward at the beginning:

I have zero credit card debt. I pay this off every month. The only two significant bills each month are truck and house.
I put 20% down on the house when I bought it, so no PMI insurance.

One thing you should not be doing: taking advice from internet randos.

That being said: set up an emergency fund of 3-6 months worth of living expenses, pay off any high interest debt, maximize your retirement contributions every year.

But random advice from scoop is best advice eh? The ~10k for an emegency fund was something I definitely wanted to do. I should really look into starting my 403B.

Good allocation so far. Do you any other credit card or high interest debt to pay off?

If you have a reasonably long-time horizon, investing some is always a good idea.

Another thing we do is take excess cash and earmark it for property taxes, income taxes, and the next car and put it into laddered bonds or CDs. You obviously will not make much interest with rates as they are, but you have a nice, safe wad of cash when you need it.

Investing is definitely something I want to do. I pulled most of my investments to put 20% down on my house. 

Hire yourself a below average bagpiper to play entrance music when you walk into places!

I have a connection who's ready at a moments notice

Absolutely!

Does your settlement cover any further medical costs from your injuries?

If so, make sure that's covered

The settlement will cover the past surgery and all follow ups (Long story short, they tried to claim my work injury was from a football related injury in 6th grade. They've already lost twice in hearings about that, but apparently can just do this everytime...)

The settlement works for both of us. I lose money every surgery as they only pay out on my old paycheck from college. $300 a week doesn't even cover the mortgage. So now if any more surgeries are needed I'll be able to take from STD instead and my OOP max is 5k per year.

Not sure where you are, but if you can, buy three ~$200k investment properties and rent them if you can get a 7% or better CAP rate. Then use the cash flow for strippers and coke and you'll never run out of either.

This could be an interesting look.

Buy Bitcoin.

That'll be a HARDS pass.

[MU82]

OK, Unleash ... given that info, here's a few things ...

++ It sounds like you don't contribute to your 403B. If your employer matches a percentage, contribute at least enough to get the full match. Put it in the lowest-cost S&P 500 Index or Total Stock Index fund they offer.

++ If you don't already have a Roth IRA, and you don't earn too much to fund one, put in the max every year - $6,000 per person. ($1K more if you're 50+, which I don't think you are.) In the Roth, you can invest in stocks, bonds, funds, whatever; again best probably would be a good low-cost index fund from Vanguard, Fidelity or one of the other big brokerages. A Roth is funded with after-tax money, so what you put in will grow tax-free forever, and it isn't subject to some of the annoying rules (like RMDs) that regular IRAs are.

++ Agree with those who suggest an emergency fund: 6 months or so worth of expenses in an online bank like Ally or CD if you can swing it, but anything is better than nothing.

++ If you're looking for something 100% safe and relatively liquid that keeps up with inflation, you can buy up to $10K/year in I Bonds. Right now, they are paying 7.12% interest; that will be adjusted on May 1 (and then again every 6 months). In low-inflation times, they can pay close to 0%; there is no cap on how high they can be adjusted when inflation is high like now. You can't lose money on them. You have to hold an I Bond for at least a year, so it's not good for money you'll need sooner. You can redeem them anytime after a year, but will pay a penalty of 3 months interest if you don't own the bond for at least 5 years. So if you buy one today and redeem after a year, the effective interest rate will be about 5.5% after the penalty - still way better than any CD. $10K limit is per person, so a couple can buy $20K/year worth. Go to treasurydirect.com if interested - lots of info there.

++ Nice job on being in such good shape re debt. Keep up the good work!

[lostpassword]

I am surprised at some of these answers and the misguided priorities.

(1) First $20k: Big East Tournament Fund.  Put some aside for a yearly trip and tickets for the next 5-10 years.
(2) Next $20k: First row at FiServe Fund.  Splurge 1 game a year to sit up close.
(3) Only then the strippers and coke

I'm only half-kidding on #1 and #2.  Restore karmic balance by offsetting some of the bad with this situation with something you enjoy.

[Hards Alumni]

That'll be a HARDS pass.

Sorry, I thought you wanted sound financial advice!