What would you do with 35k?

**GregOlney** · 05-05-2010, 04:19 AM

pay of all debt... this will take care of two things (both 3 and 4). Put some into retirement, some into a short term account so you don't continue getting in debt. Order take out...

**kork13** · 05-05-2010, 04:30 AM

Regarding your work situation, are you currently working as an employee electrician already, and just want to break out and go the contractor route? Basically, do you currently have a good income source?

As for the cash, personally, I would get rid of all the debt immediately, then save the rest of it for retirement however possible. IRA's, 401k (or other variant), or just standard taxable accounts earmarked for retirement (they can be transferred into retirement savings later).

Owning a home isn't critical, and you can probably save money by renting a small apartment right now rather than trying to buy a home you don't need, so don't worry about that. But with ZERO retirement, that should be your priority. You have 20-25 years to save the money you'll need for the rest of your life. Many (most) try to do that over 30-40 years, which is much easier, so you have alot of ground to catch up on. The earlier and more aggressively you start, the better.

**creditcardfree** · 05-05-2010, 04:45 AM

First I'd used some of it for an emergency fund, at least three months of expenses. Pay off the debt and then make a Roth IRA contribution for 2010 ($5K maximum).

We'll need more information about your income and expenses to give more specific advice.

**Hector** · 05-05-2010, 07:49 AM

Pay off your debt first. In doing so, you will save interest you are paying on it and your credit will get better. You havent mention anything about your income or monthly spending. Rent a place for yourself. You will need to put deposit for renting a new place. Keep remaining in emergency fund if you dont have regular income. If you have regular income and remaining amount is more than 6-8 months of your regular expense than put that towards retirement or invest it.

**jpg7n16** · 05-05-2010, 11:35 AM

I would:

1) Pay off all the debt
2) Put 5,000 (the max) into a ROTH IRA - invest it in a mutual fund of some sort (preferrably growth stocks)
3) Put the rest in a savings account in cash, as an emergency fund
4) Update my will
5) Change beneficiaries on all my insurance policies, accounts, 401k, etc.
6) Recalculate my budget
7) Start thinking about what I need to do to make enough to live the life I want

Your emergency fund needs to be bigger than normal because you're going through some really stressful changes, so you need as big a buffer as you can get.

But keep it for emergencies not spending money.

**amarowsky** · 05-24-2010, 04:04 PM

Yea Pay off debt still my number 1. Without more info about your income/bills/general info can't really suggest anything else that accurately.

**bjl584** · 05-25-2010, 04:08 AM

Will you be receiving the full 35K? In otherwords, is your net going to be 35K after taxes, fees, attorney costs, etc? That's the first thing I would want to know.

**KTP** · 05-25-2010, 07:58 AM

Buy a decent gun, plenty of ammo, establish about 3 months of food that doesn't need electricity, maybe get some water purification tablets. Perhaps buy 10K of gold, although I am not sure that will help much.

Ok, I am joking. I actually have no good idea how to prepare for a coming crash...I haven't really imagined how bad it could get. Would people riot in the US if unemployment hit 25% or would everyone just go home and play Xbox? If a large portion of the major airline and ground transportation companies went bankrupt, would there be distribution issues? Would the unions go on strike making things even worse?

Wait a sec, maybe I am not joking...

**RonnieE** · 06-02-2010, 02:39 AM

Pay off debt would be your first priority.

What would you do with 35k?