50% to pay down the student loans,10% to travel (some work-related), 10% to medical research or medical charities. The rest goes for taxes, right?
Interestingly, this just happened to me; a company I used to work for was bought out, and some formerly worthless ESOP stock suddenly acquired value in the transaction. Had I taken it in cash, it would have been just about the OP’s $50K.
I didn’t. Because it was eligible to be rolled over, tax-deferred, into a rollover IRA (started with the remnants of 401K’s from companies past), I did. I turned 39 a couple days ago; retirement doesn’t seem as far off as it used to.
The only other thing I considered was paying down our only debt: the mortgage. But the penalty for taking the payout in cash to do so would have outweighed the benefits.
Straight into the retirement account.
I’d spend a few days fantasizing about what I could do with it – remodel the kitchen, buy a new car, go on vacation – and then I’d invest it for my retirement.
Toss it into a 14-month CD at a local bank thereby allowing me to get a line of credit for that amount and leveraging it into another 50K from a county-wide Economic Development fund giving me 100K to start a newspaper firm in a poorly served area.
Oh, wait, I did that. This had better work.
I’d get a new car but nothing fancy. Pay off credit card, though the money I owe is under a grand anyway. Get an apartment.
This is easy. Pay back the 401(k) loan I took to use for a down payment on my house. Pay the $5,000-$6000 for the electrical work I have had to have done (I budgeted $1,000 -$2,000, then they found the knob and tube wiring :smack: ), put aside about $4,000 to replace the garage roof (could wait a few years, but hey, if I have the money), put $5,000 in a Roth IRA, then use the rest for a couple of nice vacations this year. A week in Maui and a week or so sailing around in the Caribbean both sound good right now. 
And Johnny, you really live up to that last name, don’t you.
I’d use most of it as a down payment on a house/condo. I’m actually looking to move now, but I don’t have enough saved up to afford all that nice of a place on my salary. With 50K to put down, I could avoid PMI and also atually afford a pretty decent place.
First I’d buy my girlfriend the guitar she has always wanted - a mahogany Martin D-15.
Next, a 1987 Toyota Land Cruiser, in excellent condition, lifted, with a brush guard, winch, roof rack, off-road lights, spare tire, the works. If I looked carefully I could get this for under $20,000.
After that, an extremely high-end PC and a very large flat screen monitor.
The rest, I’d ask a certain market-savvy friend of mine to make some investments with, and give him a cut of the returns.
I’m boring, $42,000 to my kid’s college funds and $8,000 to add a good battery system and cut-over circuitry to my Solar Panel System.
I am assuming this is $50,000 after taxes. Otherwise, pay the taxes, add the batteries and put the rest into college funds.
Jim
I would steal Jonathan Chance’s plan and start a biz that I’m pretty sure will make money, be a lot of fun, work for myself and be an asset to the community.
No debts, so I’d put some in short-term investments in preparation for furniture purchases for when my son gets old enough for his own room and we replace some of our old and creaky stuff. The rest would either go into long-term investments, with some maybe being spent on a new car (though I need to get a license first).
I’d buy 50,000 more lottery tickets!
My plan cannot fail!
No really I don’t have any debt so I’d buy a decent used car, fix the one I already own for my SO, buy a few outfits and put the rest down on a home.
five thousand to charitable acts.
Forty thousand to mid term medium risk investment. (5 years, probably stocks, grain and energy)
Five thousand in camera equipment.
Tris
Vegas Baby!! Yeah!
I’ll tell you what I’ll do, man-Two chicks at the same time.
10k goes to two weeks in Rome and environs. 2k for credit card debt. The rest to a Roth IRA.
Buy a new Mac, and put most of the rest in my savings account. (Maybe look into buying some long-term Bonds, or something.)
Eh, maybe go to Disney world…that was sure fun when I was 9.
Take five thousand and do Moscow, I have never been there. The rest goes into the Fidelity Crack Cocaine Fund. They have done very well for me over the years.
$5K to retire my credit card debt. The mortgage can stay - at 4.25% it’s practically free money. Dental work. A less used car than the one I’m currently driving. I’m already contributing the max to the company 401K, but I would like to put more toward retirement. A central heat and air system and finish the insulation for my drafty 150 yr old farmhouse. I’d start dressage training again. Since I bought my first horse I’ve had enough money to keep a horse, or to train, but not to do both.
StG