<p>^^^ huh?^^^ i never said those expenses should be paid from a Heloc,i said it should come from a fund named by another poster as “Life Happens” fund…and i said helocs are a good option for the seldom used emergency fund…READ before you disagree. ;)</p>
<p>How close are you to retirement? We have put all inhertiance monies into investments (stocks and bonds) and we are hoping to be able to retire earlier than we might otherwise have. I’ll save the travels for a little later.</p>
<p>I would never buy a vintage watch because especially in Hawaii, the parts tend to not last and then you’d be stuck with an expensive trinket that doesn’t even keep time. That’s just me & where we live. Collectibles in general don’t fare very well here because of all the acid from the volcano and salt from the ocean mist, as well as high humidity.</p>
<p>It is indeed nice when funds inherited allow one to retire sooner and/or more comfortably than originally envisioned. This may be the case with us as well. :)</p>
<p>If 50K dropped out of the sky today I’d probably immediately call someone to build me a pool in our backyard. Complete financial folly but I’ve always wanted one.</p>
<p>Diogenes will be happy.</p>
<p>sewhappy, I always wanted one too (and have one now). It sits ignored 90% of the time even though we could use it 10 months out of the year and it’s hours & hours of maintenance headaches. </p>
<p>If I got 50K I’d get a “pool boy” :-).</p>
<p>50k might be difficult to get the dream pool, i have built 2 in the last 2 years, and have spent much more then that when all said and done…</p>
<p>Hours and hours of maintaince? Impossible…i spend 15 minutes a week…tops…</p>
<p>I would get a pair of good quality, large diamond earrings, and a first class trip for my family to Italy</p>
<p>lol, I find that my annual “pool fever” passes with the turning of the leaves.</p>
<p>That first-class trip for the family to Italy sounds fabulous, Oldfort.</p>
<p>Folks I know who have pools would gladly get rid of the pool if they could. They rarely use it & consider it an expensive nuisance and money pit. Both mom & brother are sick of having theirs but my sister loves hers & uses it often. We’re all different!</p>
<p>Am toying with what would be good to do with extra funds and am still leaning toward fully funding retirement & helping kids so they can own a place to live when they’re ready to settle down.</p>
<p>I would buy stock in low P/E stocks with good growth potential ie Ford, and sell covered calls on the stocks.</p>
<p>Whatever lets you sleep at night. Three kinds of people:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>spend it now, life is short (vacations, luxuries, wine, women and song, etc.)</p></li>
<li><p>invest in the financial markets (stock, bonds, mutual funds, commodities, etc.)</p></li>
<li><p>invest in real estate.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Personally, I am a tiny bit of #1 (enjoy a small luxury now) and a big dose of #3. I will always be more comfortable investing in real estate. It has taken a huge tumble and may be a good time to acquire. Depending where you live $50k may be a dop in the bucket or enough to make downpayments on a couple of rentals and cashflow right away.</p>
<p>Emergency funds don’t have to be sitting in a savings account earning .0 nothing %, they can be in mutual funds earning a safe return, you just want something liquid, something without fees for taking the money out of the account. Why do people think that an emergency fund has to earn nothing?</p>
<p>What are your retirement funds like? Do you have a Health Savings Account? Did you max out your contributions to that? Do you have Long Term Care Insurance?</p>
<p>You can do 2 + 3 by investing in real estate investment trusts.</p>
<p>I would take the trip assuming I had retirement money. There is no guarantee that as we get older that we will be alive or have the health to travel.</p>
<p>^^very good point Doc…which is why I take so many vacations even though I need a new kitchen and other house related stuff. That’s what I’d do! Take $10k for a vacation and the other 40k for a kitchen! :)</p>
<p>I do have some of my retirement $$ in a real estate mutual fund. Seems better for me than managing individual properties & MUCH more liquid. OP–sounds like fun–one great vacation for $10K & the rest on your kitchen. That’s more than we’ve spent on all our home improvements since we purchased our house over two decades ago, including installing hardwood floors, photovoltaic, solar water heating and new roof!</p>
<p>What is the name of the real estate mutual fund?</p>
<p>Something with Vanguard–name escapes me at the moment.</p>
<p>Is it vgsix?</p>