What should I do with $70,000?

[notsmart]

So my job is going awesome and I'm getting a fat bonus this year, $70k after taxes. Moving forward my bonuses should be about $70-100k a year unless the economy shits the bed.

While I'm good at my job I'm a fucking idiot when it comes to money. I can't even pay my cell phone bills on time. My earlier investment strategies of hookers, blow, booze, food, and travel have left not much of a nest egg.

Now that I have good salary and a smart wife, we have a decent plan in place for retirement using my salary alone. So the extra from the bonus is icing on the cake. Filthy green icing.

I was thinking about putting it into an generic investment house like Fidelity, then having them dole out a couple Gs a month into different things. Safe and diverse.

But then I'm like, fuck that. I should do something risky with it because then I can turn that $70,000 into $700,000. BOOM!

Then I remember I'm a finance retard.

I do have the goal of eventually owning my own business. So if I could put these bonuses, or part of them, toward that...I'd be stoked.

Thoughts?

EDITS

Time Horizon: I wanna retire in 20 years

Dependants issues: 2 kids. I want them to pay their own way through college like I did but my wife is a softie...at any rate we have this covered via our plan using my salary

Risk: The bonus is "extra money" so I can be a little more risky with it. But I'm not rolling into Vegas and putting it on black.

/an alias

[irul&ublo]

Incomplete facts. Time horizon for need of money; dependents issues; risk tolerance/aversion level...all needed

[PNWbrit]

Get your teeth fixed by a really good dentist.

[Kied]

$10k for two trips... one to AK w/ the boys, followed immediately by another somewhere warm and tropical with the wifey. Good for the soul, good for the marrage. Invest the rest.

[rideit]

Invest in BicyclArt!

[notsmart]

irul, see original message for edits.

Kied, doing some sort of trip(s) for sure.

[4matic]

You have mixed messages on the time frame you want to invest the money. For scaling into investments there is research that says invest it all immediately; don't scale in. If you are not fully funding a 401k, a Roth, and a conventional IRA you might do that first to minimize taxes but again, some say just do the minimum into tax deferred investments and only fund a 401k to the employer match.

If you want to speculate for high returns it's not a passive endeavor. Risk management is crucial in high risk investing.

Define your time frame and risk appetite first.

[Alaskan Rover]

I'll PM you my deposit info for my savings account.

Payments into a CD would work fine, too.

I also think PayPal would work well for the tranfer....just in allotments of less than $10,000 to keep the blue-suit-and-tie boys from getting too nosy.

Whatever is easiest for you.

[notsmart]

4matic I don't know what any of that means, beyond "there's research saying to invest it all immediately." Would appreciate links or I can do some research on my own.

I'm already maxed on 401k and stuff and am doing a roth.

My timeframe is, we have a plan in place using my salary alone to retire in 27 years. I want to add to this the $70k /year I should be getting from my bonus moving forward.

Maybe since this is a forum we can keep it fun and say: How can I invest $70,000/year and make as much money in as short a time as possible, say 10 years?

[iceman]

Get your teeth fixed by a really good dentist.

From an Englishman. My world just imploded.

[SkiCougar]

4matic I don't know what any of that means, beyond "there's research saying to invest it all immediately." Would appreciate links or I can do some research on my own.

I'm already maxed on 401k and stuff and am doing a roth.

My timeframe is, we have a plan in place using my salary alone to retire in 27 years. I want to add to this the $70k /year I should be getting from my bonus moving forward.

Maybe since this is a forum we can keep it fun and say: How can I invest $70,000/year and make as much money in as short a time as possible, say 10 years?

we are entering a 2nd recession now, the bottom is not likely to happn until spring of next year.

for now, hold it in cash. youre only likely to lose some until the bottom is in. then when it comes, buy a index fund and ride it up; move it to a bond fund when the market tops out again. repeat for 10 years. i recomend following streettalklive.com to know when to do that.

[iceman]

Maybe since this is a forum we can keep it fun and say: How can I invest $70,000/year and make as much money in as short a time as possible, say 10 years?

Plastics.

If you can stand dealing with the people now is a good time to buy rental property.

Otherwise, everyone I know wishes they could find some good acid, there's bank to be made.

[4matic]

4matic I don't know what any of that means, beyond "there's research saying to invest it all immediately." Would appreciate links or I can do some research on my own.

I'm already maxed on 401k and stuff and am doing a roth.

My timeframe is, we have a plan in place using my salary alone to retire in 27 years. I want to add to this the $70k /year I should be getting from my bonus moving forward.

Maybe since this is a forum we can keep it fun and say: How can I invest $70,000/year and make as much money in as short a time as possible, say 10 years?

http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Dollar_cost_averaging

For a completely rational investor, lump sum investing will always produce a higher expected return, because it immediately moves your funds from asset classes with lower expected returns to ones with higher expected returns. Note that higher expected returns do not guarantee that your actual returns will be higher. According to an investopedia article, [5] studies indicate that lump sum investing has produced higher returns 66% of the time.

Some investors have the goal, not of maximizing their expected returns, but of minimizing their potential regret. For those investors, dollar cost averaging is superior because it reduces the chances of investing just prior to a market drop. If you instead decide to invest 1/6th of the money each month for 6 months, you will reduce the chance of buying just before a crash. Instead, as the price fluctuates each month, you will buy more shares when the price is low and less when it is high.

Many new investors are more interested in minimizing their potential regret, and it's important that an ill-timed market drop not scare them off from investing in the future. Many experienced investors are more interested in maximizing their expected returns. You can also decide to split the difference, where you invest half immediately and the other half over 6 or so months.

Honestly, there is no way to answer your question about how to make a lot of money above historical mean without assuming a lot of risk.

I suppose sink it all into emerging markets would be the easiest way to assume a lot of risk/reward.

[4matic]

Otherwise, everyone I know wishes they could find some good acid, there's bank to be made.

QFT......

[4matic]

we are entering a 2nd recession now, the bottom is not likely to happn until spring of next year.

for now, hold it in cash. youre only likely to lose some until the bottom is in. then when it comes, buy a index fund and ride it up; move it to a bond fund when the market tops out again. repeat for 10 years. i recomend following streettalklive.com to know when to do that.

Will they ring a bell at the bottom?

[doughboyshredder]

I'll PM you my deposit info for my savings account.

Payments into a CD would work fine, too.

I also think PayPal would work well for the tranfer....just in allotments of less than $10,000 to keep the blue-suit-and-tie boys from getting too nosy.

Whatever is easiest for you.

Typical liberal attitude.

LOL

[SkiCougar]

Will they ring a bell at the bottom?

well they did last time. first week of march 2009, they said a bull market was coming; on the 9th it took off. thats a good enough bell for me.

if you need them to give you a call or come by your house at the bottom because youre to lazy to check their website, i'm sure they'll let you buy that service.

[PNWbrit]

From an Englishman. My world just imploded.

I only emigrated for the smile.

[ncskier]

I know keep it light and its a forum. So take it for what its worth. But decide to you want to invest or speculate. Its fun to swing for the fences sometimes, especially with "extra" money. One grand in apple at its low would be 69k today. I have been in similar situations and would probably lean towards the following. $10 grand for trips would be a start. then take 40 grand and "invest" in something boring like an index fund, bonds etc. If you have any stupid debts like a credit cards, boat, cars, Line of Credit, knock those out now. It should free up monthly income for the long term if you are no longer servicing those debts. Again that's a personal call. Then quite frankly I would pick a beaten down stock and load up. Screw dollar cost averaging, I mean really speculate. Last week I bought 1000 shares of BAC for $5.20 a share. I promptly sold them at $6.43 for an almost 20% gain. The problem is I made 20% on 5 grand or a quick grand. However, with 20 grand I could have made 4 grand or enough to take the family on an awesome trip. In this market don't buy and hold, have fun and take profits daily. I'm not advocating bofa but there are plenty of large cheapish stock that have shares that are whipsawing. Good luck and remember to have fun. You are receiving nearly twice as much money in a bonus as some families will receive in nearly two years.

[4matic]

well they did last time

Past performance is no guarantee. I understand what you are saying but waiting for a specific point 6 months from now is speculation itself. If it isn't lower six months from now then what? What was the opportunity cost?

[irul&ublo]

From an Englishman. My world just imploded.

An Englishman would need the whole 70 to get the job done. Next year, he can work on the ears

[iscariot]

Its a sure thing.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Congrats!
It's my birthday. Wanna by me some boots and bindings?
Also, I hear the King of Nigeria has some great investment opportunities his people can talk to you about if you can stand the poor English.

[roscoe]

Go by a bunch of gold and silver coins dont invest in the gold and silver actually get the metal and then build a mini fort knox in the house. then going and have fun like a heli trip followed by a trip with the wife.

[HankScorpio]

BMW M3


1234