Unfortunately I’m not expecting a $500,000 windfall, but let’s assume that you were. Your great-uncle Herschel who you never knew about is leaving it to you in a Folger’s coffee can with only one string attached: you have to invest it.
Which of the following options would you go with?
Other: a combination of the first three options.
Of those offered I picked property, but it could have been a term deposit - I’m surprised you didn’t have a “put it in the bank” option!
Other: Pay off any debt, such as credit cards, student loans, or a mortgage. I honestly think that’s how you would get the best return on your investment. Not to mention that I personally would sleep more soundly at night knowing I don’t owe anyone a single penny.
Real estate is really cheap now, so after I pay off my own mortgage and put some in the bank for the kids’ college fund, I’d buy a house near me. In the short run I’d rent it out, but I’m sure in 5 or so years the value would go up up up.
Wouldn’t that be 50 gaming tables?
Anyway, I’d pay off my mortgage, and throw the rest, or as much as I can, in my IRA.
Roddy
Yeah. I agree about combination of the first three. Plus, spend some on fun stuff like hookers and or blow.
If I had to invest, I’d buy rental property. $850/mo is considered cheap for a 2 bedroom apartment around here, and I’d surely be able to get at least 3 apartments out of a $500,000 investment.
I’m renting now, so I’d probably buy a nice apartment here in the city. The idea of living with no monthly rent or mortgage payments sounds like heaven.
I’m boring. I’d do broad-market index funds mixed with some bonds. I’m 36, got a long investment horizon, so I’d do about an 80-20 blend of stocks and bonds. Maybe even 90-10.
I lol’d. 
And reminds me of the old joke.
There was a rich guy who had three girl friends, but decided it was time to get married. He couldn’t decide which one he liked better so he gave them each $10k and saw what they did with with it.
The first spent all the money on clothes.
The second invested all the money.
The third spend some and saved the rest.
Which one did he marry?
The one with big tits.
I’d start a business, in a field I’d enjoy working in.
No clue, but let me tell you a funny story about my great aunt. Who did in fact recently receive a very nice windfall, although probably not $500K nice.
She asked her younger son (who was visiting) for advice.
He told her there was no wrong thing she could do with it. Give it to charity, spend it, invest it, whatever.
She asked her older son (by phone) for advice. He said “Well, Mom, first you have to give 10% to your church, and then you can do whatever you want with the rest.”
A couple hours later, in the midst of another activity, she came out with “I like my church, but I don’t like them that much. 10% is too much”
And even later “And if I give them 10%, and give some money to each son, older son will give 10% of his portion to his church, and that’s way too much”
So she hasn’t done anything.
funny story about the wife of younger son in the above tale:
A friend of theirs had had a misunderstanding where she thought they’d won the lottery. So she’d briefly been planning on spending extravagently.
This lead to Wife thinking it would be fun to play the “what if I won the lottery” fantasy game–imagining a $300K windfall.
“So, Husband, what would you do with the money?”
“I’d buy the house we stay at when we visit Florida in February”
“Well, that’s stupid . . . . No, really what else would you do?”
“Maybe I’d look into buying a boat”
“Well, that’s stupid”
“Ok, so what would you do with the money?”
“Um, umm, umm, maybe I’d buy a newer used car?” (envision a 2008 Buick or something–not a cheap, cheap car, but not a luxury car by any reasonable person’s definition).
“You know, you aren’t very good at this fantasy game”.
I’d probably give $50k to each of our two kids. Maybe $10k or $20k to some siblings. Maybe.
Then I’d sit on most of the rest, in a very liquid way, as a cushion. I wouldn’t change our current plans to open a deli, but it would help our odds if we could hire a mentor or consultant. We could buy more and/or better start-up equipment too. That would help. But mostly, it would take the pressure off of our absolute need to succeed.
Debt payoff, son’s college tuition, upgrade my retirement property.
I voted rental property but it would only stay a rental til I was ready to retire and move into it.
$500,000 isn’t really enough to buy a large apartment complex that is worth investing in for value, and there are about a gazillion homes for sale now, so not sure that buying another house is a great investment. With so many rentals on the market, you wind up renting it for far less than what a monthly mortgage would cost. Plus, there is the hassle of dealing with renters who may or may not be reliable tenants, assuming you can even find qualified renters.
Thus, I think investing in a business would probably be the best bet. The safest would be to do some research, find the perfect area that doesn’t have a lot of other eating options in the area and then invest in a Subway or McDonalds or whatever chain you choose. For instance, find a college area, or perhaps a business area that doesn’t have many options for breakfast/lunch and put the business there. Yes, there is work involved, but chances of success with a well-known chain establishment are fairly safe if you get the right location.
Otherwise, go to the roulette wheel and put it all on red. You might be able to at least double your money in 10 seconds*. And those are probably better odds than letting some yahoo on Wall Street invest in pork bellies.
I would make sure my home and debt are paid off first. Funds after that I would invest by working with options: I have been a fan of Phil’s Stock World for a while. Unfortunately, he’s now subscription only, except for a few free articles, but he’s got a lot of knowledge and understanding of using options. I had done some trading with options a few years ago, but got my ass handed to me by being in an unviable position when the market tanked. Then I discovered Phil’s stock world and read up on what I had done wrong. I think I’m ready for the next time, but don’t have the available liquidity to start a next time right now.