If you had 100K in savings what would you do with it

[janine]

Invest it. This was an interesting piece in the NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/12/yo...ch.html?src=me

Ah great timing, thanks.

[lkoala]

I wouldn't pay off the mortgage if there are tax advantages and with some research you can invest in low fee mutual funds that will give you a better rate of return than 3.25%.

[Ms B]

Great tips. We actually do have a property - that is their college fund . But I was thinking about another one, as income flow and long term investment - but dont' think 100K is enough plus can be high risk. I am keeping an eye open though.

If this is the case, then I would suggest a true financial advisor who can put together a coordinated plan for you (considering retirement, social security, college, life insurance, and other investments as a whole) rather than a broker. You may be leaving tax advantages and savings on the table by planning to use real estate as "college savings" when you could get an upside from traditional 529 or similar plans.

[larig]

I'm a conservative investor. I would like to be a more aggressive investor. I learned conservatism in investing from my father who declined my request to buy Apple stock when I was a kid (so waaaaay before the iPhone and even before Macintosh.) He bought IBM instead. Sigh.

Seriously, were you and I separated at birth!? My dad finally bought the apple stock, AFTER the iPhone.

[HannaAddict]

It isn't that much money if something goes wrong so I would not do a vacation, Disney (not my vacation of choice anyway), rather I'd invest some conservatively and some of it more aggressively for long term. I wouldn't use it to buy property unless I already knew what I was doing in that area and had done it before successfully. Finding a trustworthy financial adviser can be hard but I'd try and invest it. I would also probably bump up my emergency fund a little more.

[vonfirmath]

I wouldn't pay off the mortgage if there are tax advantages and with some research you can invest in low fee mutual funds that will give you a better rate of return than 3.25%.

The tax advantages of a mortgage are highly overrated. The standard deduction is high enough you'd have to have a LOT of things to itemize to overcome it. And you get the standard deduction even if you DON'T pay out the interest in your mortgage.

[KrisM]

If we're halving things for a LCOL, I know I would not be happy here with only $20k as an emergency fund. How many months does $40k get you? I prefer 6-8 months saved for emergency. So, I'd probably bump that up.

Then, I'd look at other places - do you have money set aside for a replacement car? Do you have any other big expenses that might come up that this would help speed up the saving pace?

After that, I'd find someone to help me invest it, if I didn't think I could myself.

[sariana]

Um, I would leave it sitting in savings.

I don't recommend that as a sound strategy, though.

[janine]

Um, I would leave it sitting in savings.

I don't recommend that as a sound strategy, though.

This is what I've been doing for sometime, so you are not alone. Hey at least I didn't lose anything!

[janine]

If we're halving things for a LCOL, I know I would not be happy here with only $20k as an emergency fund. How many months does $40k get you? I prefer 6-8 months saved for emergency. So, I'd probably bump that up.

Then, I'd look at other places - do you have money set aside for a replacement car? Do you have any other big expenses that might come up that this would help speed up the saving pace?

After that, I'd find someone to help me invest it, if I didn't think I could myself.

I think that's fair. As of now I'm thinking 1/2 keep in savings (doubling our emergency fund) and 1/2 invest...not sure how or where yet, some index fund maybe.