What to do with $20k, What is the smartest thing to do... Options

[bloodrain]

Well, I got a nice little end of the year bonus and Im trying to figure out what to do with it. Im 19 years old living with my dad. I hardly have any bills ($170 for insurance, $35 for my cell phones (not each phone)) I would love to get a nice supra or something, but Im thinking thats not really reasonable, because in cars, you only loose money. Im just trying to figure out what to do with the money.

[forkee]

put it in an ingdirect savings account with 3.8% annual percentage yield. it pays ur interest monthly and with $20k in it, ull earn $2/day. plus u can benefit from withdrawing or depositing at any time.

you could also open up certificate of deposits aka CD's with higher apy, ive seen some as high at 6% but CD's lock ur money in for a predetermined amount of time for enabling you such a high apy. you could take it out early but its not good before it matures.

don't do stocks......just because a company is doing well has nothing to do with their stock. the company can divide its yearly earnings without paying it out to their stock payers. stocks is gambling

This post has been edited by forkee: Jan 2, 2006 - 1:54 AM

[FSX_Celica94GT]

that is a HUUUUUGE BONUS, i'd put about 2 or 3k in my car, then the rest in account

[Scott]

Congrats on the bonus! Invest about half in real estate, save in account/spend the other half. real estate can earn 5-10% if done well.

[lagos]

ill give you a little tip. number one, DO NOT TELL anyone you have that much money. you shouldnt even be on here talking about it.

number two, as soon as you spend 1 dollar of it, it will ALL be gone before you know it. put it into a savings account like forkee said, and just forget about it.

if you DO want to do something smart with it, think about using it to buy a house. you can use part of the money as a downpayment, and then rent the house out. the money you get from the renters will cover the morgage and in a few years you can sell the house and make a nice chunk of change from it.

This post has been edited by lagos: Jan 1, 2006 - 8:05 PM

[lagos]

oh and dont use it to buy a car. i alwasy tell people, that just becuase you save up 200,000$ for that dream ferarri, dosnt mean that you can afford it. the car you drive should be based on a % of your yearly income.

a supra will cost you more to maintain, more in gas, more in insurance....etc. just cause you have 20grand, dosnt mean u can afford one... you know what i mean? ... not to mention that it woulld be a dumb way to blow all your money

[JFrost9]

I would invest 1/3rd of it, spend another 1/3rd with it, and then just plain up save another 1/3rd... and ofcourse a good 3k of that 6600 would goto my car. I got 10k and thats what i did, but all the money for my car was involved in buying it.

[Akimbo]

The smartest thing to do with 20k is not spend it.

[97lestyousay]

I was looking for put a down payment on a house.
Just save it.

[bloodrain]

ill give you a little tip. number one, DO NOT TELL anyone you have that much money. you shouldnt even be on here talking about it.

the only reason im on here talking about it is because I dont know any of you in real life, all I have to do is click the 'X' in the corner and its like I was never hear. For all you guys know I could be lying but im not really a lair, anywho ya im probably gonna do the 'smart' thing and save it or invest like $5k in stocks or somethin. As much as I would love to have a nice TT Targa top supra, and just like you said lagos, just because I have the money doesnt mean I can afford it, which I probably could but it wouldnt be very smart. Anywho, other ideas are welcome.

[Akimbo]

what about that evo or whatever...

[bloodrain]

what about that evo or whatever...

i've decided not to go with a 2nd car. mine only has 73k miles on it, and looks pretty decent, might as well drive this 1 till the rims fall off and let my money stack. and the evo is expensive as hell to maintain, i've been reading alot about them on evom.net

[Cutrara]

Buy 200,000 packages of Ramen Noodles.

[dustin15brown]

take a loan out for more.... invest in reality.... thats basically what my parents did, buy a **** house fix it up get it comp paid off..... sell it, profit decently, buy 2 house and so on

[creis]

enter into a pyramid sceme, here you can start by buying 1,000 copies of the movie "Phonebooth" from me for $20 each, then turn around and sell em for $21 and make money on the deal I promise.

or do the smart thing and save 99% of it (gata spend a little just because, you know.) at your age, saving it would be the best/safest choice the stock market is a bad idea and wile realastate is a good idea, i would let it build up a bit in savings till your absolutly shure your ready to put it in good places for your future.

[Drocay]

okay, dude i'm a financial adviser

1. Don't spend it.
2. Don't put it on stock market.
3. Forkee's idea is the best, i would recommend other things over what he said just because that percentage isn't high enough atleast isn't for me if it was my money. I don't got much time and my head still hurts from last night but good luck.

[Hanyo]

take it to a casino and double your savings and then you have 20k to spend on your celica. and the 20k to save.

[97sccelica]

invest in commercial real estate

~2-3 years and it will be ~$50,000

then re-invest that.

[bloodrain]

invest in commercial real estate

~2-3 years and it will be ~$50,000

then re-invest that.

whats commercial real estate?

[Cutrara]

invest in commercial real estate

~2-3 years and it will be ~$50,000

then re-invest that.

whats commercial real estate?

Buildings, factories, stores, empty properties in commercial zoned areas (for build to suit), etc.

Mostly, if you can't live in it, then it's commercial. I'm not sure how apartment buildings fall into that, though.