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<p>Go to the library and find the section with the personal finance and investments books.</p>
<p>Read several of the books on each subject (general personal finance, general investments, stocks, mutual funds, real estate). Each author will have his/her own opinion, but if you read several, you will be able to get a better idea of how things work from the several points of view.</p>
<p>Thanks–have done that some, but as looking for recommendations of SPECIFIC authors that others have found helpful.</p>
<p>Well, I just got my tax returns today from the accountant and it reminds me of what I would do with a windfall – pay the IRS. Almost makes me want to be a Republican.</p>
<p>HiMom, I gave you my list earlier and someone may have already mentioned this, but I think there are a lot of people who are going to look for fulfillment in their post-retirement life that they didn’t have in their jobs. They might be able to use a windfall to help them devote themselves to something where they really feel they are making a difference. A friend of ours (who has a very intriguing career) visited a Southeast Asian country a number of times. He discovered that while male law students could stay in monasteries, there were no residences for female law students. One woman lawyer he met lived under the eaves of the law school library (may only have been one building, I can’t recall). So they used a bit of a windfall to fund and raise money to fund the construction of a woman’s dorm. The later built a school in a village for $28,000. They were there, and did much of the organizational work. They’ve done other things in that village. They have really changed people’s lives and now others work with them in their efforts.</p>
<p>Although I love my work and find it very fulfilling, my plan is to try to help make a difference in some kind of way that ties my professional skills and some financial contribution from me. I’m not yet sure precisely what I will do. A windfall would help me feel freer to invest more time and energy in that direction.</p>
<p>HiMom, I really enjoyed The Little Book That Beats the Market, which was written by a very successful hedge fund manager for his nieces/nephews or kids. It’s not about rapid trading, nor does it involve technical analysis. It seems to me to make basic sense and is something most institutions won’t do because they are tied to hitting quarterly numbers.</p>
<p>Thanks! Our very conservative CPA always makes sure we withhold more than we owe, so we can sleep soundly at night without worrying about scouring for money for IRS. Thanks for your suggestion on the book.</p>
<p>I started my non-profit that I feel is making a difference in our state, though not yet the world. Having funds to be secure, so that working for the non-profit is possible even with no benefits is a great boon.</p>
<p>Much to mull over–thanks!</p>
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<p>Not an exhaustive list, and they are not necessarily the only valid points of view:</p>
<p>Malkiel, A Random Walk Down Wall Street
Graham, The Intelligent Investor
[Shareholder</a> Letters](<a href=“http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html]Shareholder”>http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html)</p>
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<p>However, that means that you are lending money to the government interest-free (although the amount of the interest is tiny these days compared to years ago). It also means that if you actually need your overwithheld money, you have to wait until you can file your tax return to get your money.</p>
<p>Yes, we recognize that, but still don’t want to pay interest and penalties and prefer the peace of mind. Have heard the IRS is getting VERY aggressive these days, as is our state tax office. That is more hassles than we are willing to deal with for the little we could earn on any overwithheld $$$$. FWIW, we have never had to borrow or had problems due to overwithheld $$$$ & prefer erring on the side of caution.</p>
<p>Thanks for your suggestions and interest. I really do need to take more of an interest in investments again. My level of interest seems to come & go in cycles, depending on what else is going on in our lives. Now that the kids are mostly on their own and doing well, we can go back to focusing on other things. ;)</p>
<p>Will have to try acquiring these interesting books.</p>
<p>The best is to get an MBA in finance.</p>
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<p>Same here. I often don’t know how much I’ll make for the year until relatively late in the year.</p>
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<p>I think that states are as they are desperate for revenue. I don’t know about the IRS though. They have been pretty busy with the end-of-year politics and having to switch the forms and computer algorithms for late-breaking legislation. They will have to ramp up for the new healthcare legislation. They are focusing on high-income earners for sure but I think that they’re getting stretched. I can see the new trading regulations burning up a lot of their time where they have to talk to traders that didn’t get it right or that need to provide documentation or explanations or that get so frustrated that they punt.</p>
<p>I’ve had to fill out MA returns in the past and they were a bear because they have universal coverage. It may be that using tax software makes it a lot easier but there’s still several additional forms that have to be filled out. In the packet that you get, the healthcare package is as big as the tax package.</p>
<p>That is more hassles than we are willing to deal with for the little we could earn on any overwithheld $$$$. FWIW, we have never had to borrow or had problems due to overwithheld $$$$ & prefer erring on the side of caution.</p>
<p>We do a safe harbor thing, so we never owe penalties. We never have to borrow and just have to move funds from one account to another to do the last bit. But filing Federal and state returns is such a gigantic piece of work. Plus corporate returns, foreign assets, … . It means all the bookkeeping has to be done carefully the first time.</p>
<p>Ok, will be trying to tackle this again in August and review existing investments. IF a good property becomes available, it may be tempting to acquire, as generally we find real estate somewhat less volatile than stocks, but sadly more illiquid. </p>
<p>Have been going on some trips and not feeling guilty staying in nicer hotels. :). We will go down to Orlando to meet S in a few months and may meet S and in trips too. </p>
<p>If all goes as planned, we hope to be able to leave our kids our ROTH IRAs, which should be nice windfalls for them. :).</p>
<p>I hope to not have to spend all my money on long term care, as it seems rather pointless for all our money to go towards the last years of getting someone to spoonfeed us and wipe our rear ends. At that point, if I have my wits intact, I would like to find some other option. Hopefully we will remain healthy and die a quick, clean, inexpensive death (far in the future, of course). I hope to leave my children huge sums of money.</p>
<p>oh damn, I forgot to lookup the super lotto numbers. I had one dollar in it…:)</p>