# What to do with $10,000? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 24, 2009, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820 "2009-06-24T12:55:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/1 "2009-06-24T12:55:29Z")
Say you had no significant debts, savings or assets. What would you do with that kind of money? What would be the smart thing to do? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/2 "2009-06-24T13:05:17Z")
Buy the love of your life? ---
**Author:** ![TheMadEngineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TheMadEngineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadEngineer)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/3 "2009-06-24T13:10:29Z")
The smart thing to do would be to save it for emergency use, especially if you have another form of income. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/4 "2009-06-24T13:11:58Z")
Save it until I have a good enough idea of what to spend it on that I don’t need to ask some random people on a message board? Or what **TheMadEngineer** said. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/5 "2009-06-24T13:20:03Z")
I’d divide it into three piles 1. a small amount (say 5-10%) to give to charity (save the receipts!) 2. an equal amount to absolutely blow on anything I want (because I’m going to want to, so might as well and just get it out of the way.) 3. I’d take the leftover portion (80-90%) and put it into a short term CD (say 6 months) and take that time to figure out what I want to do with it. Certainly some investments but it would give me a bit of time to figure out what debts I may have coming up or when I may need the money and how much I’m looking to earn on it. ---
**Author:** ![TheMadEngineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TheMadEngineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadEngineer)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/6 "2009-06-24T13:29:33Z")
The reason I say save it for an emergency is because you /never/ know when some kind of medical or other issue will crop up that will be unexpected and painfully expensive. That ten grand is some nice soft cushioning for any hard blow life will deal. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/7 "2009-06-24T13:38:29Z")
You have no savings? Then the smart thing to do is open a Roth IRA attached to a low cost index fund and put your yearly max into it ($5000?). Put the rest into that same index fund outside of the IRA. Next year transfer that money into your Roth IRA. If you have $0 saved for retirement this is a good place to start. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/8 "2009-06-24T13:39:22Z")
Are you asking what I would do with it? (Go heli skiing in NZ in August) Or what some generic person should do with it? (A prudent combination of savings and investment - too hard to specify more without knowing what that person’s goals and life situation is) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/9 "2009-06-24T13:41:49Z")
I would invest half in Dolores mutual funds, and take the other half to my friend Asadullah, who works in securities… ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/10 "2009-06-24T13:55:56Z")
All of it on black! No, wait…red! ---
**Author:** ![JFLuvly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac91a4/32.png) [@JFLuvly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JFLuvly)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/11 "2009-06-24T14:06:40Z")
Here in eastern Canada I would buy two cartons of smokes, a couple cases of beer and fill the gas tank…that should pretty much take care of the ten grand. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/12 "2009-06-24T14:25:26Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Buy the love of your life? Ten times. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/13 "2009-06-24T15:35:13Z")
> [@Weedy](#): > > Say you had no significant debts, savings or assets. What would you do with that kind of money? What would be the smart thing to do? But stock. KV Pharmaceuticals “A.” ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/14 "2009-06-24T15:48:23Z")
I received a $10,000 inheritance a few years ago. I used it as part of the down payment on a house. My youngest sister gets hers (plus interest) in November. She is also using hers to buy a home. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/15 "2009-06-24T15:58:48Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Ten times. Make it five. He’ll need a little left over for some blow. ---
**Author:** ![ScatteredFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@ScatteredFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScatteredFrog)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/16 "2009-06-24T16:21:36Z")
I’d either put it in savings, or go on a shopping spree at Best Buy, starting with a MacPro. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/17 "2009-06-24T16:38:48Z")
Buy an old, classic Volkswagen Beetle or— better still— Karmann Ghia in decent shape. It would be something for my son and I to tinker with throughout his boyhood, take out for weekend drives, and one day it would be his. That’d eat up an easy 5-6 grand; anything left would be dropped into savings. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/18 "2009-06-24T17:29:24Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > You have no savings? > Then the smart thing to do is open a Roth IRA attached to a low cost index fund and put your yearly max into it ($5000?). > Put the rest into that same index fund outside of the IRA. Next year transfer that money into your Roth IRA. > If you have $0 saved for retirement this is a good place to start. I disagree. As others have indicated, the first priority is an emergency fund. The Roth and index funds are not accessible enough. Plus you are having him/her start saving with an asset allocation of 100% stocks. Not good. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/19 "2009-06-24T18:15:18Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > You have no savings? > Then the smart thing to do is open a Roth IRA attached to a low cost index fund and put your yearly max into it ($5000?). > Put the rest into that same index fund outside of the IRA. Next year transfer that money into your Roth IRA. > If you have $0 saved for retirement this is a good place to start. At least one financial columnist says that before you try for the retirement savings, make sure you’ve got a “life happens” fund to cover routine emergencies like car repair bills etc. Then put it into retirement while working on saving up 3-6 months of living expenses in a cash-like account (savings, money market, or other liquid account). But realistically, put aside a _little_ of that 10,000 for a splurge or you’ll feel deprived. Just be responsible with the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820/20 "2009-06-24T18:30:19Z")
Now’s a good time to invest. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-10-000/500820.md?page=2)