If you came into a largeish amount of money unexpectedly....

[Anonymous]

I'm almost embarrassed to say I spent the whole thing (38K) on redoing the master bath in our new house and putting in an upstairs laundry room. We're already saving plenty and I wanted a new bathroom .

[Anonymous]

Spend $10k on an international family trip. Bank the rest.

Congratulations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would take 10% or so and buy something I've always wanted. The rest would go straight into retirement.

How can $60k go into a retirement account? IRA has a $5500 cap. 401ks/pension/profit sharing are tied to work + have a lower limit...?

I didn't say a tax-deferred retirement account. The majority of our retirement savings are not tax-deferred.

Then they are just general long term savings.

Isn't that the same thing? I'm 48. Long term pretty much equals retirement.

No, it isn't the same because retirement grows at a tax deferred income rate and long term savings does not. The difference being that presumably your tax rate upon retirement is much lower than your tax rate pre=retirement. Therefore your answer is: I'd save it.

[Anonymous]

I've done this with the windfalls I've received:

1/3 Splurge
1/3 Share
1/3 Save

No regrets.

[Anonymous]

I'm about to receive a $500k inheritance. My original plan was to pay off my car loan and our HELOC ($50k total for both), keep $50k to play with, and save/invest the $400k with an eye toward quitting work or cutting way back ASAP. Wouldn't pay off our mortgage, though, since the 3 5/8 rate is lower than what we could potentially make investing. And we have no other debt.

No kids, though.

But it's possible some of the inheritance could be, if I choose, in the form of a long-held family house and/or property two time zones away. So I will have to decide whether I want some or all of the real estate instead of some or all of the cash.

My mind changes every day. What would other people do in this situation?

[Anonymous]

I inherited $50k, put it in Vanguard Wellington fund, and am now ignoring it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would take 10% or so and buy something I've always wanted. The rest would go straight into retirement.

How can $60k go into a retirement account? IRA has a $5500 cap. 401ks/pension/profit sharing are tied to work + have a lower limit...?

I didn't say a tax-deferred retirement account. The majority of our retirement savings are not tax-deferred.

Then they are just general long term savings.

Isn't that the same thing? I'm 48. Long term pretty much equals retirement.

No, it isn't the same because retirement grows at a tax deferred income rate and long term savings does not. The difference being that presumably your tax rate upon retirement is much lower than your tax rate pre=retirement. Therefore your answer is: I'd save it.

Yes, and the amount you can save in "retirement" is capped. You still need to "save" more if you ever want to "retire."

[Anonymous]

Inherited $100K a decade ago.

Paid off a small car loan and the HELOC.

Put the remainder (about $50K) into our brokerage account.

Freed up a good chunk of change monthly and saved a ton in interest plus built up the account we use to save for next house downpayment.

My answer would have been different if we didn't already have a hefty emergency fund and weren't already maxing out our 401K options.

[Anonymous]

OP here. It was from a stock I bought a year or so ago...out in a sell order which I kept renewing every 90 days...and company announced after trading hours it was being acquired. I bought at 13 and it sold when the market opened at 29.54. I had zero idea a buy out was coming and was shocked when my broker called this morning. Thankfully, I'd diversified the investment...so I made about 15k in each of 2 retirement accounts and 15k in each of 2 investment accounts.

After reviewing the responses...I'm not doing anything with the money...but appreciate the input!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Invest in BRK/B and let Warren Buffett manage your money for you. Your investment will appreciate nicely and because they pay no dividends you'll have no annual tax consequence. You really will be able to put it away and forget about it knowing it is appreciating in value and it will without question be there sometime in the future when it's needed.

Berkshire is the best bet out there for anyone who wants to invest, but is not watching the markets closely.

Good idea, although WB is no spring chicken. I'm wondering how BH will do when he's gone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I inherited $50k, put it in Vanguard Wellington fund, and am now ignoring it.

I inherited $140k two years ago and have done nothing with it, but want to do something.

Why/how did you choose Vanguard Wellington?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm about to receive a $500k inheritance. My original plan was to pay off my car loan and our HELOC ($50k total for both), keep $50k to play with, and save/invest the $400k with an eye toward quitting work or cutting way back ASAP. Wouldn't pay off our mortgage, though, since the 3 5/8 rate is lower than what we could potentially make investing. And we have no other debt.

No kids, though.

But it's possible some of the inheritance could be, if I choose, in the form of a long-held family house and/or property two time zones away. So I will have to decide whether I want some or all of the real estate instead of some or all of the cash.

My mind changes every day. What would other people do in this situation?

Unless it is a house you will visit often (like once a month) or want to move to in the not too distant future, take the $$. Long-distance ownership of a house is very expensive and time-consuming. Not worth it unless you're really going to use it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I inherited $50k, put it in Vanguard Wellington fund, and am now ignoring it.

I inherited $140k two years ago and have done nothing with it, but want to do something.

Why/how did you choose Vanguard Wellington?

Not PP but Wellington is a great balanced fund with a lifetime return of more than 8%. Really solid fund for both bull and bear markets, and relatively low fees for an actively managed fund. I have about $20K in it myself and add to it regularly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends (of course). Do you already have ample retirement savings and an eight month emergency fund? Do you have high interest debts? What is your home situation-rent, own, mortgage, thinking you need something bigger someday?

All of these issues would take proirity over spending it.

this. Given our current financial situation, I would first pay off our credit card debt ($7k) and replenish our emergency account ($18k) to cover the costs of an unexpected and very costly expense we recently had.

I'd take $10k and set it aside for a big family vacation sometime in the future. I'd like to do something really special before DC1 goes to college in a few years.

We are on target with our retirement accounts, so the remaining $25k would go into the kids' college accounts. But if we needed a retirement boost, the money would go there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I inherited $50k, put it in Vanguard Wellington fund, and am now ignoring it.

I inherited $140k two years ago and have done nothing with it, but want to do something.

Why/how did you choose Vanguard Wellington?

Not PP but Wellington is a great balanced fund with a lifetime return of more than 8%. Really solid fund for both bull and bear markets, and relatively low fees for an actively managed fund. I have about $20K in it myself and add to it regularly.

I think Vanguard funds are generally regarded as well-managed and for a very low fee. Vanguard also has target retirement accounts, where you pick a fund based on when you think you will retire, and they manage your money in a mix of stocks, bonds, etc, balanced for risk depending on when you'll need the money. It's a nice option for those of us who want someone else (with a demonstrated track record, of course) to worry about the details.