OK, those who believe who believe in donating $250,000 to an American university as an "investment" please turn in your RTK badges.

ahibba Wrote:

aphasiac Wrote:Personally I'd spend some on a year in Japan, learning the language, having fun, going a bit nuts. Then backpack round asia.

aphasiac Wrote:....Personally I'd rather spend my life happy and working in a job/career that I really love, rather than have some money waiting for me when I'm 60. But maybe that's just me being idealistic..

I understand you, but I can do all these things without the 250K.

So if you're already living your ideal lifestyle in your ideal job in total financial security, and you're not willing to actually spend any of the $250k now, is there any point even having it?

Honestly give it to people who need it more; local businesses maybe, or charity.

Put the money on a saving account with a high interest rate (locking the money usually gives higher interest) and only spend the interest. That way you get extra money to enjoy now without touching the original $250000. Consider putting a portion of the interest back into the savings and you will get more interest the future.

How many $1 meals can you buy in SE Asia with $250,000? Not a donation to some shady charity, but actually surprising impoverished people with a makeshift buffet at a local restaurant for but one day. Just backpack through the region and use your imagination. That small financial windfall you came into can buy you sainthood if you use a little wisdom and compassion with how you spend it.

Live the life you've always wanted to live, do the things you've always wanted to do.

But most importantly, use your head before spending the money, spend them wisely.

Another advice is to remember that those money can be all spent and that your life doesn't depend on them.

I'm sorry for your loss (since you inherited them).

Edit: If I were you, I would invest them in myself, i.e learn.

bodhisamaya Wrote:How many $1 meals can you buy in SE Asia with $250,000? Not a donation to some shady charity, but actually surprising impoverished people with a makeshift buffet at a local restaurant for but one day. Just backpack through the region and use your imagination. That small financial windfall you came into can buy you sainthood if you use a little wisdom and compassion with how you spend it.

Now that would be a truly great way to spend a year. If you set aside the necessary amount for travelling and your own living expenses, then went around making communities in some impoverished area of the world a little more comfortable with the remaining cash, you would have an unforgettable experience that you'd treasure for the rest of your life. Probably far more than anything material you could possibly buy with the money. If I ever win the lottery I'm gonna get bodhi to help me spend it.

@ Almost everyone here : Charity is overrated and actually feeds on peoples good will. Huge amounts of cash are pumped into Africa by zillions of companies and do you see the problem getting solved? No and it never will, two reasons why:
1. Each charity organisation consumes lots of money for their "administration", buildings, operational costs etc. Other huge chunks are just stolen or abused by corrupt employees. World is full of bad people so why would charities be any different, they got some super screening process we don't know about?
2. Its not the way to address this kind of a problem. We've had this knowledge for hundreds of years, we even have sayings about it ("Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for life.") but still in all our naivety we make the same mistake all over again.

If despite that you still want to help people do it personally. See a hobo on the street asking for something to eat, BUY him food. See a regular, completely ordinary mother that swallowed her pride and is begging for money on the street as the last resort she can think of to save the life of her child, help HER!! Don't just give her money, help her throughout this process, this way not only will you make sure its a legitimate case but also it will make you the true hero you wanted to be in the first place: helping others when they were abandoned by everyone else.

Another good way of feeling generous is helping your family or preparing for it, you never know if your 12yo niece won't be needing a transplant or some other costly procedure. Thats why the smartest thing to do is save this money, invest it and be prepared. Read about Warren Buffet (a very smart and wise man) and do what he did, you don't know how to handle huge piles of cash so take it from somebody who knows and has been doing so for decades.

@OP : Its actually not that much cash so no retirement for you yet but if you invest it nicely (buy a real estate and rent it, rest in various financial products and currencies) it could mean a nice bump to your salary so you can focus more on doing things you like that are not necessarily profitable. This is something I want to do in the future, "retire" early and just do fun stuff (interesting work, long & cheap travel), while having the comfort that if something goes wrong I'm still backed up by my investments.

Not all charities are equally honest or efficient but some do good work and spend their money wisely. Trying to help people yourself is hard. Unless you live in an impoverished area and know the people well, it's hard to know who would benefit most from your money.

Move here to Brazil and live the life of a rich person until you die of old age. Without ever having to work again.

ahibba Wrote:

usis35 Wrote:I need more info to give a good advice

- age = 25
- are you studying? working? = until recently, I was パラサイトシングル
My study and work are just like hobbies, not something essential for survival.

Considering your age and situation, I come up with 2 ideas:
1) buy an apartment in a large building in a big city, and rent it. I have just bought one in Miami, for less than half the price it was 3 years ago. You will have an income, and your asset will increase in time. Probably you will need that money when you are 30, 40 or 50.
2) you can open a brokerage account , for instance at tdwaterhouse.com, and invest in 5 to 10 ETF's (you can search on the internet about this) and leave it there, waiting for the time you will need the money.

Pauline Wrote:Put the money on a saving account with a high interest rate (locking the money usually gives higher interest) and only spend the interest. That way you get extra money to enjoy now without touching the original $250000.

Good luck finding a high interest rate these days (at least in the UK rates are very low). Also this is a good way to gradually lose the value of your initial money to inflation. I personally think that only cash is a rather dubious investment strategy in the long term. (The OP should make their own mind up about how risk-averse they are, of course.)

mentat_kgs Wrote:Move here to Brazil and live the life of a rich person until you die of old age. Without ever having to work again.

With Brazil's energy independence as a solid economic foundation, I don't think that will be the case ten years from now.

US$ 250.000 at the interest rate of 0.7% month is ~ R$ 4.000.
If you like the countryside, you can live forever without worrying about money again, but yes in the big cities R$ 4.000 may be only enough to pay your rent.

It depends on what you want for your life. With that amount of money I'd move to anywhere in the countryside where there is a nice broadband connection and live as a free software programmer full time.

I'd live off of it until you found a way to make money doing what you love. That, or invest it in little bits and use the interest to augment your income from doing whatever you do.

It's really hard to get more than 6% annual interest around here these days, though... it would still pay for maybe 10-15 years of my current living expenses, but I'm working at around the bare minimum and my "rent "consists of $100 in property taxes to the government.

I figure that the cash I have invested(at zero risk using my bank's highest interest CDs) is barely getting enough interest to counter inflation right now.

pm215 Wrote:

Pauline Wrote:Put the money on a saving account with a high interest rate (locking the money usually gives higher interest) and only spend the interest. That way you get extra money to enjoy now without touching the original $250000.

Good luck finding a high interest rate these days (at least in the ...

Junk bonds are nice right now. I pull in around 8% in junk (a fund - not individual bonds, which is too risky) and treasuries, etc are over priced and ready for a pull back.

Ahibba,

You're asking in the wrong place for investment advice. Go to a forum like bogleheads.org.

Before you do that, take the time to read some books. It took your family years to earn that money, now spend a couple months, read a couple dozen books, and educate yourself on your best options. No one cares about your money as much as you do, so you owe it to yourself to be informed so you don't get screwed.

This is a good time to buy a house, but only if you're sure that's where you're going to live for many years. The NY Times has a good calculator for deciding whether to rent or buy.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/busin...lator.html

Someone mentioned a financial planner. Most financial planners are just clueless salespeople. They earn a commission by selling you mutual funds with outrageous expenses. They have no fiduciary responsibility to their clients, so buyer beware.

kmoeini Wrote:Someone mentioned a financial planner. Most financial planners are just clueless salespeople. They earn a commission by selling you mutual funds with outrageous expenses.

This is why I carefully said "not one on commission"...

kmoeini Wrote:Someone mentioned a financial planner. Most financial planners are just clueless salespeople. They earn a commission by selling you mutual funds with outrageous expenses. They have no fiduciary responsibility to their clients, so buyer beware.

Exactly. Why people ask for money advice from a guy that usually earns much less then they do is beyond me. If he knew SHIT about money he wouldn't be working in there would he? Its exactly like going to this site www.secrettosportsbetting.com and paying them to learn their "secret", if there was anything to it this guy wouldn't be asking for your money!!!!

pm215 Wrote:

Pauline Wrote:Put the money on a saving account with a high interest rate (locking the money usually gives higher interest) and only spend the interest. That way you get extra money to enjoy now without touching the original $250000.

Good luck finding a high interest rate these days (at least in the UK rates are very low). Also this is a good way to gradually lose the value of your initial money to inflation. I personally think that only cash is a rather dubious investment strategy in the long term. (The OP should make their own mind up about how risk-averse they are, of course.)

Yes, the rates are bad right now, but they will eventually go up. Until then, I would place the money in an account with a high rate (for today's situation) without locking up the money. Compensate for the inflation by adding money to the savings, for example leaving a part of the interest or save a sum monthly (inflation rates around the world).

Quote:This is why I carefully said "not one on commission"...

Absolutely. I was trying to expand on your point, but it unfortunately didn't come out that way.