I have $10,000. Now What?

So I recently got $10,000 from my car insurance from when I crashed my car. I realized I really wasn't using that car that much anyway, and I will not buy another car anytime in the near future. So what do some of you financial savvy folks recommend I do with that money?

Pay off any credit card debt or other high interest loans. If you've done that then do you have an emergency fund? An emergency fund is about 3-6 mos. living expenses saved in a bank account. If you have that then I'd recommend you start a Roth IRA. If you already have that then good for you! You should probably stick it into a CD until you learn how to invest it properly. Go to your library, check out some investment books - like Investing for Dummies, or something by Suze Orman and then you will be able to decide what is best for all of your money. No one will ever care about your money as much as you do.

save it and let it grow..

As I have answered before to others, seeking investment advice online is fine if you understand that true investment professionals cannot give you any advice online without violating the "know your customer rule" with the SEC or FINRA(formally NASD). i am an investment professional who is licensed by the FINRA to give advice and receive compensation for that advice. Please believe me when I say that the best sounding advice may not be the best advice for YOU. this is the key...YOU. YOU are who you are, and YOUR situation is what makes advice accurate. If you want advice, please email me, I promise to you that my advice and/or help will be of no charge to you. there is NO catch. I am willing to help you, because I do not want to see anyone get bad advice .

If you are in any debt of any kind then make all efforts to pay that off. If you aren't in any debt then you should consult a professional financial planner with the heart of a teacher to teach you how your money will grow and the pro's and con's of your investment situation. Make sure you have at least $1,000 for an emergency fund. And savings of at least 3-4 months of your take home pay.

Standard investment advice is that you should invest in a diversified mix of stocks, bonds, and money market funds. You want to buy a diversified portfolio of stocks as individual stocks are too risky. Most folks have a dificult time buying a properly balanced portfoilio of stocks on their own. They will misbalance their portfolio by buying all small stocks or all growth stocks, or some other misbalanced assortment of stocks. Unless you know what you are doing, it is best to buy mutual funds. I like Vanguard.com, other people like Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, and DFA. Buy no-load, low cost funds. If you are like most people you will invest part of your money aggressively in stock funds, and part conservatively in money market funds and bond funds. Vanguard.com has an on-line questionnaire which will give you an idea of how to do "Asset Allocation," determining how much to put in each type of fund.

If your company offers a 401K plan at work, try to invest the most you can. The money grows tax free, and some companies will match your contribution. Investing in a mutual fund IRA is also a good idea. If you have children, you may want to consider a 529 plan or other college savings plan that grows tax free.

I like index funds. Because of their broad diversification, you are less likely to have a dramatic drop in value. They also have the lowest expenses. For stock funds, I would suggest putting ~70-80% of your money in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. and ~20-30% in a foreign stock index fund. However, there are many different opinions out there on what the best mutual funds are. Read the links below and form your own opinion.

If you have high-interest debt, like credit cards, it is best to pay this off first before trying most of the investment ideas above. You should also have 3-6 months of salary saved up as an emergency fund in a bank or money market fund before trying more risky investments.

Believing advice you get on Yahoo answers can be risky, so read these websites for further information. If you find it too confusing, contact a professional financial advisor. They will charge you significant commissions, however.

Sources:

http://www.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation
http://www.fool.com/school.htm
http://sec.gov/investor/pubs/assetallocation.htm
http://www.diehards.org/readsites.htm
http://finance.yahoo.com/education/begin_investing
http://finance.yahoo.com/funds/basics

Asset Allocation Calculators
(Determining how much to put in stocks and how much into bonds and money markets is a personal decision depending on your financial status. These Asset Allocation questionaires give you a rough idea how to do this. I like Vanguard best, but try some of the other sites as well.)
https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/FundsInvQuestionnaire?cbdInitTransUrl=https%3A//flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation/education
https://ais2.tiaa-cref.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects.exe/DTAssetAlcEval
http://www.ifa.com/SurveyNET/index.aspx

Web forum: http://www.diehards.org/
(Many investment web forums are overrun by scam artists. This one seems the most legitimate site.)

529 plans: http://www.savingforcollege.com

I can give you 30% profit monthly! Contact me!

Good decision.
My friend is getting 20% interest per year.
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Good luck!
Alex

I suggest setting aside $5000 as an emergency fund. Next set aside $1000 as a Financial Literacy Fund, where you use it to attend seminars and buy books on personal finance and investment.

The rest of the money shall be used as seed money for investment when you have studied investment and feel confident to 'dip into the pool'. The first investment tool to study, in my opinion, would be mutual funds. Because they are easier to understand how it works, less volatile so you have more time to adjust your portfolio.

Hope the suggestion helps!

Investing in CD's will get you a guaranteed rate of return and the money will be available if you need it.

Buy Google stock 663.00 a great deal at this price. The
Wall Street pros are saying it will go to 1000. Another great stock, Apple at 163.

By making a simple investment, you could triple the amount of money you have now.

THE THING IS, when most people receive a lump sum of cash, they simply spend it, and it's never to be seen again.

You could EASILY turn that $10.000 into something more.

If you are AT ALL creative or business minded, you could start a simple online business.

But otherwise, I would recommend talking to a bank, an accountant, or a business person of some sort, and ask them what sort of investments you can make to multiply your money.

God Bless

buy 10,000 lottery tickets

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