I received an inheritance from the estate of a parent and I wonder how best to handle this.? My father died 30 years ago and I finally got a little money 25,000. I hope to put in an interest bearing account of some type, but want access to at least half that I am renovating my house in hopes of selling it this summer.
I am a single mother head of household with 3 children and live in AZ. My boyfriend and I bought an old house almost 2 years that we can sell this summer, without penalty.
Wondering what the best way to do it. I could divide the money in savings and other things too. You do not want a tax hit, I'm in education and I am in the bottom.
I plan on getting much advice from different sources as I can before deciding what to do.
Any suggestions would be appreciated!
You need to invest in stocks, bonds and money market funds. Want to buy a diversified portfolio of shares, that individual actions are too risky. For most people this means buying mutual funds. I like Vanguard.com, other people like Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, and DFA. Buy without load, low-cost funds. If you're like most people you invest some of your money carefully, in money market funds and bond funds, and some aggressive equity funds. Vanguard.com has an online questionnaire which will give you an idea of how aggressive you want to be.
If your company has a 401K plan at work, try to invest as much as possible. The money grows tax free, and some companies match your contribution. Investing in a mutual fund IRA is also a good idea.
I like index funds. Because of diversification, you are less likely to have a dramatic drop in value. They also have the lowest expenses. For stock funds, I would save ~ 70-80% of your money in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. and ~ 20-30% in a foreign stock index fund. However, there are many different opinions out there on what the best mutual funds are.
However, if you have high-interest debt such as credit cards, it is better to pay that off first before trying most of the investment ideas above. You must also have 3-6 months of salary earned in an emergency fund in a bank or money market fund before trying more risky investments.
Believing advice you get on Yahoo answers can be risky, so read these websites for more information. If you find it too confusing, contact a professional financial advisor. They will charge you significant commissions, however.
Sources:
http://www.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planni ...
http://finance.yahoo.com/funds
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/ ...
http://www.fool.com/school.htm
http://sec.gov/investor/pubs/assetalloca ...
https: / / flagship.vanguard.com / VGApp / hnw / ...
and it is money that you didn't before .. I take as $ 5,000. pay the credit cards you have and put the rest into a fund to vacuum and leave him alone ...
over time this will amount to something nice
I do not know what your specific goals are or how far along are you in achieving them. So I'll tell you what I think your goals should be and then you can add the money where the long list you are.
Objectives:
1. Have an emergency fund at the expense of 3 months. If you are single with 3 children, you n.
Posted on January 29, 2010.