Sounds like a sound move if you have no debt or other obligations. Get a high interest savings with a min. of 6-8 months of emergency money and save for retirement. Start a Roth IRA and drop 5K in. That's the max for this year, $5,500 starting next year. Good Luck

Yep your plan is sounding good. Im glad you understand that you should invest the first majority into a savings account, that is very important. Note that you should only invest into the market if you can do without that money. Just incase (touch wood) something goes wrong, you want to make sure you have enough to survive off with the other money. hen again I do not no your financial status, but generally just be aware and sensible with what you do. Try to use resources on the internet to find out the best ways to do it, and if you can afford advice, take it

Actually I will suggest you to divide the money in three equal parts 5000. Put 5000 into a Roth IRA, 5000 into a cd and 5000 into a growth or large cap mutual fund. Good luck!

I think a filling up a Roth IRA would be a good start. With a Roth IRA you invest with post-tax dollars, but your distributions are tax-free. If you want to see all the advantages of a Roth IRA, check out With a Roth IRA you invest with post-tax dollars, but your distributions are tax-free.

With the remaining money I would put a comfortable amount into an emergency fund and invest the rest in a good fund. Since it's not a very large amount, I would recommend buying Class B shares, which does not have a front end load, but you would have a back end load (which usually decreases over time).

If you can do without the money, and feel like a gambling person, it might be a good time to invest in some high-risk stocks. Obviously investing in stable, well-known companies would be ideal.

Then when the economy kicks back up (5+ years from now) take a look at a nice chunk of profit (hopefully).

$5,000 in to a Roth IRA, $5,000 into a ISA and $5,000 into a long term CD account. You can get pretty high interest rates on 24 or 36 month CDs.

You currently have no debt? Thats great. If you do have CC debt, pay it off now w/this money! I am also assuming you will have student loan debt(s) later? Plan to use the CD money to put a dent in that in 3 yrs.

Good luck!

It sounds like you already have a good plan. Go for it. You are in great shape!

Don't put all the money in one channel. Invest in at least 2-3 channels and if possible take help from a finance professional.

You should listen to everyone about putting in 5k of your money in a roth IRA. . . (or you can put all of it in a roth IRA. . .just put 5k in it now and put the rest in a savings account. . .then invest 5k in the roth IRA the enxt year. . .and repeat. If you're 28 and you invest 5k per year until age 65, your savings can be over 1 million assuming it's 9% returns) also, another good thing about Roth IRAS is that when you retire at 59.5+ (assuming it's been open for more than 5 years), you can take the money out tax free. So 1+ million or potentially more tax free? Pretty sweet.

Also, if you prefer to take bigger risks, then personally i think it is a good idea to invest in stocks. . .now is the perfect time to buy low. Warren Buffett is buying up companies and stocks like he's at a Macy's blowout sale or something.

Either hire a financial advisor/investor to help you with all your monetary needs!

Hi zeeshan66, My name is Holly Ortego, I am a financial consultant. I have coached many people. I think that you should invest in something that will make you more money, and let it build up until your debt reappears. I have a great site I think you might be interested in. Click or cut and paste the link below.. It will give you plenty of ideas about where to place this money in this economy, and crisis God Bless If you cannot see the links email me at

I agree with the previous poster that investing a higher proportion in riskier stocks might be to your advantage especially considering your age and the lows that the market has been reaching lately.

thank you all for your help i lost track of this tread. but appreciate all the advice and the time taken to post. given the current ecocnomy i'm not sure where to turn or what to do....as i'm sure most of us are thinking.

[quote=mandarinmint;9615]You should listen to everyone about putting in 5k of your money in a roth IRA. . . (or you can put all of it in a roth IRA. . .just put 5k in it now and put the rest in a savings account. . .then invest 5k in the roth IRA the enxt year. . .and repeat. If you're 28 and you invest 5k per year until age 65, your savings can be over 1 million assuming it's 9% returns) also, another good thing about Roth IRAS is that when you retire at 59.5+ (assuming it's been open for more than 5 years), you can take the money out tax free. So 1+ million or potentially more tax free? Pretty sweet.

Also, if you prefer to take bigger risks, then personally i think it is a good idea to invest in stocks. . .now is the perfect time to buy low. Warren Buffett is buying up companies and stocks like he's at a Macy's blowout sale or something.

Just to add a little part to this post. I made this mistake several years back.

I like the idea of planning ahead that mandarinmint suggested, setting the money aside for later investment into the IRA, but you must remember that you have to actually have the same or more earned income in any given tax year to make the max contribution.

You (Zeeshan66) stated that you were going back to school which might mean you won't be working, or working a part time job. You must 'make' the same amount of money in any given year as you contribute to your IRA.

Example: 2008 contribution max is $5,000. If you are working a part time job where you only make, say, $3,500, that $3,500 is the max allowed by the IRS that you can invest in your IRA.

A few years back, I didn't work a 'normal' job for one year, i.e., didn't have any taxable income, went ahead and made the max contribution to my IRA from my savings, not realizing it was not allowed and had to pay extra taxes on the contribution, due to my oversight.

Just want to make sure you don't make the same error; it can result in an unexpected tax bill.

Hi..I absolutley agree with the roth IRA you should definenetly put some money towards your retirement and since you are so young it will be alot once you retire..PLEASE don't put it into the stock market put it somewhere that has a low risk high yield return...I am 25 yrs old and i came into a lump sum of money as well and invested it into a private hedge fund that allowed me to start an IRA AND it doubles every 4.5 yrs if you have any questions please feel free to contact me and i can get your money doubled as well..... meanwhile goodluck and make wise decisions