what would you do with 100,000 ?

[yukookoo]

i know i've read on here before that it depends what is important to you.
But generally would you invest, pay down debt, save in a cd?

Assuming
1. you have abotu 100,000 in debt (student loans, cars,)
2. you dont own own a home in live in a hgh col area and have bad credit.
3. have no money to your name as far as savings, 401 k, life insurance etc.
4. live pay check to pay check

[jentilla]

I would take the money and move to a LCOL area where I could buy a house outright and find a job making less money, but have a decent enough space to be more self sufficient.

BUT this is b/c I believe the old standby's are not going to survive: 401k, retirement, stocks. I believe you should invest in your home, owning it and making it WORK for you.

[fruitfulmomma]

Primarily I would pay down as much debt as I could, while putting away some into savings for emergencies and looking into relocating to a LCOL area.

[mnnice]

How old am I?

[yukookoo]

your in your early 30's, husband in late 30's.

and you haha are thinking that the most important thing to you to invest in heart wise is that you would like a small home on some land so that you can be sustainable and "off the grid" ish in the future. Need to work to pay bills, energy, water whatever but would feel safe knowing that YOU have the ability to grow your own food, own a cow for milk, some chickens, not today but if in emergency scenario.

[Leta]

Easy. (I'm assuming this is $100,000 after taxes.)

-Burn my student loans (~$35K)
-Burn our mortgage (also about ~$35K)
-Remodel our house

Then, since we wouldn't have a house payment anymore, save $500/mo and our tax returns for about three years and start shopping for land. Buy land, and live in our house while building a stone house (and barn) on the land. Then, either keep this house as a rental, or for DS to live in while attending college.

[velochic]

Well, your investments are going to be taxable investments... that is, they won't grow tax-free and will affect you every year. You can invest in a Roth IRA to the tune of $5k each year, but that leaves a lot to be taxable.

Therefore, this question is really too complicated to answer. It would depend on your marginal tax bracket, your investment personality, the interest rates on your debt, how long you plan to stay in your current location, how secure your job is, how secure your life (in general is), how many kids you have, plan to have, what you want to do for their futures, how old you are, when you plan to retire, where you plan to retire, how well you manage your money... I could go on and on. The answer is... 5. Too little information to answer question.

[Leta]

I should add: I am 31, DH is 30, and we have retirement savings. Our kids get free university tution through DH's employer.

[sunnysandiegan]

I agree with Velochic that there is too little detailed information to give a detailed answer.

However, in general, I would base my decisions partly on my current day situation and partly on the situation I want to be in the next few immediate years, retirement years, and in-between years (in that order, but not in equal percentages).

I can say for sure if I had very little money in any type of savings, I would NOT put all the money towards debt. I firmly believe people do best when they save money concurrently as they reduce their debt. It tends to build new sustainable habits. The psychological aspects often play out such that folks who have racked up debt and pay it off without accumulating savings, end up back in debt. Money is wrapped up in so many aspects of who we are and how we behave. Spending time on what makes you tick financially is time well spent, IMO.

[yeahwhat]

Originally Posted by yukookoo

i know i've read on here before that it depends what is important to you.
But generally would you invest, pay down debt, save in a cd?

Assuming
1. you have abotu 100,000 in debt (student loans, cars,)
2. you dont own own a home in live in a hgh col area and have bad credit.
3. have no money to your name as far as savings, 401 k, life insurance etc.
4. live pay check to pay check

In that situation, I'd use it to pay off the debt, then I'd probably have much more room in my budget for the other things.

In my situation, I'd pay off my loc and student loans (just over $20,000 total), take a real vacation with dh and the kids, max the kids' RESP contributions for the year, and pay someone to redo my kitchen and basement on a budget. Then with the extra $400/month I'd have in my budget, I'd up dh's RRSP contributions. Thinking about it makes me happy, even though I know $100,000 is not about to fall from the sky into my lap.

[cschick]

nm, missed the second part of the question.

[kittywitty]

Pay off half the debt.

Then move to a low COL area where I can find a job and buy an inexpensive home or trailer and work on building my credit and saving up.

[accountclosed3]

for me, i would pay off all the debt. in fact, that amount would pay off my school debt and leave a bit left over for me to put into savings.

then, i would adjust my situation so that i can begin to put into savings and 401k. i would predominately save up to have a down payment for an affordable house/condo or whatever we want that we can afford. and then i would build savings up again after that point.

[spring978]

I would negotiate all debt and spend 60 paying it down or off

I would put 10 in savings and use the other 30 as a down payment on my little farm

[velochic]

Originally Posted by spring978

I would negotiate all debt and spend 60 paying it down or off

This kills your credit. If your credit is already bad, this is a very bad idea. Besides money spent should be paid back if you have the means. Negotiating to pay less is, IMHO, a bit unethical unless you really have no choice. And there are plenty of reasons to have no choice and I respect that, but if you suddenly come into 100k, that's not really a good reason to pay less than you owe... this does trickle down to the taxpayers eventually.

[CrunchyChristianMama]

I would FOR SURE use every penny of it needed to pay of your debt. This will free up the amount you were paying every month on the debt to put toward savings, insurance, save for a house, etc.

[claddaghmom]

Move

Buy a house

Apply the rest to debt based on interest/min. amount due

Use my recovered cashflow to max out 401 and savings

File for the house credit and apply to more debt

ETA: and what would *I* do?

Give it to each of our families to pay off their debts.

[SunshineJ]

In this situation I'd probably do this: $20K to savings, $40k to debt, $40k as a good enough downpmt on a house that they may overlook the credit issues. Otherise I may toy with the idea of buying a modest house outright and applying all the savings I have from that to debt and a savings fund, but I don't know that I'd go that route.

[Sk8ermaiden]

Pay off all debt and build a savings with the money I had been putting toward debt. By the time I had a good savings and could afford a house, my credit would likely be much better.

[Delicateflower]

I would put aside a six month's emergency fund in a decent investment, pay the rest to the highest interest debts.

If it were me, I'd put 50% into investments, 50% onto the house.

Originally Posted by yukookoo

Need to work to pay bills, energy, water whatever but would feel safe knowing that YOU have the ability to grow your own food, own a cow for milk, some chickens, not today but if in emergency scenario.

I wouldn't trade my current real life security off the possibility of an apocalypse someday.