Girlfriend has come into 27k, what does she do?

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Girlfriend has come into 27k, what does she do?

Deception: Nov 6, 2004; Your an idiot
My an idiot

My girlfriend has come into a fairly large amount of money after the unfortunate death of her mother. I for one do not make a great wage(16.15 p/h) and she makes around $43,000 a year. So we have been looking around and I know that there are legit places she can go to ask about these things, however, we would like to start here. I've scanned a couple of the threads here and seen great advice but I would like to know if there is anything else you can add with a personal touch.

Current Expenses for her:
No Interest:
RTG (furniture): 1922.80

Interest:
Discover:1275.52 (22.99%)
Buckle:488.61 (24.99%)
Bank:2117.62 (14.24%)
Car:12391.15 (10.9% at 290 a month)

Student Loans:
10110.63(5.6%)
14029.01(6.8%)
6742.58(6.8%)
College:485.74 (5%)

We have a budget in place for our everyday expenses, rent ect. She's just not sure if she should tackle any of these debts first, kick student loan first, or throw some money or all of it into investments and pay this back later.

Unless you need more detail on personal expenses she really wants to know, should she invest or pay these off. Just typing this makes me cringe because she's a hard worker and had to take on a lot by herself due to family issues. Please goons, give us some sound advice. Thank you for the incoming help in advance.

UPDATE: She took all the advice given. Last thing she needs is to set up an emergency fund, thank you for the replies!

Deception fucked around with this message at 14:51 on Sep 27, 2014

# ¿ Sep 25, 2014 19:01

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 10:33

Deception: Nov 6, 2004; Your an idiot
My an idiot

I agree with most of the suggestions coming in. I just think she needed an outsider to tell her this instead of me nagging. Thanks a lot for the quick responses we will be following this thread and keep you all updated.

Another question, should this money be put into the bank or cashed. What's the best way to avoid a ridiculous tax?

Deception fucked around with this message at 19:13 on Sep 25, 2014

# ¿ Sep 25, 2014 19:10

Deception: Nov 6, 2004; Your an idiot
My an idiot

Cicero posted:

The first ~5 million of an inheritance is not taxed:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estate_tax_in_the_United_States

For some reason I thought throwing 10k or more into a bank, would incur a tax. Thank you for stating the obvious in the wiki I should have looked up ha, that's a sigh of relief.

# ¿ Sep 25, 2014 19:18

Deception: Nov 6, 2004; Your an idiot
My an idiot

skipdogg posted:

27K isn't a lot of money in the grand scheme of things. Investing it at this point in your life isn't the smart move in my opinion. I'm going to assume you're under the ages of 35.

First thing she should do is put 5,000 dollars away for an emergency fund. I keep mine at a separate bank from my normal checking/savings account. It's there for emergencies only.

22K left

Secondly, pay off all that high interest debt. 25% interest for a Buckle store card? Good grief. You never carry a balance on those high APR store cards.

3900 dollars will pay off Discover, Buckle, and the Bank.

18.1K left

Third: Pay off RTG. I don't care if this is low/no interest. Judging from the interest rates on the borrowed money your g/f doesn't have very good/excellent credit. Just go ahead and get out from under this. It's probably 'deferred' interest and if it doesn't get paid on time, or you miss a payment you're gonna get hosed on this.

16.1K left

11% APR on a vehicle note in today's economy is terrible. My last few vehicles have all been 2.9% or less. I would say pay this off completely or put a chunk of cash down and refinance at a lower interest rate.

I would suggest taking up to 10% of the money and spending it on whatever she wants. Maybe her mom had a favorite vacation destination. Take some time off and go visit it. Try to make some positive memories with some of the money.

I don't really worry about student loans that much, paying off the small College note would be a good idea just to deal with one less bill every month.

Other than that, make sure your budget is solid, between the two of you, your household brings home an annual income of over 76,000 dollars a year. You should have no issues with that kind of income if you stick to your budget.

Solid advice. Really. We are under 35, I've been pushing for her to refinance for a while on the car, she's already put down 5k down on it, has had it for about a year. She never misses a payment on any of these things and always pays over the min. She does have an "emergency fund" but it's very small. She is 24 and dealing with a lot of stress, so any advice is great advice that she doesn't have to personally take on right now. Proud to be part of SA right now, you are making a difference in her life.

Also want to clarify, her cards were given at a young age, when she virtually had 0 credit. Now she's sitting around 700 and I am trying to take the load off her by doing research to get a lot of this out of the way.

Deception fucked around with this message at 19:32 on Sep 25, 2014

# ¿ Sep 25, 2014 19:24

Deception: Nov 6, 2004; Your an idiot
My an idiot

You all have been amazing thank you so much and I will give you all an update on what she does, I think she's going to take the advice.

# ¿ Sep 25, 2014 21:40

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Girlfriend has come into 27k, what does she do?