Young adults panic over cash wins
Multiple young adults (18-23) express confusion and anxiety about how to handle sudden cash windfalls (£60k, $120k, $60k) due to lack of financial literacy and guidance. They seek simple, trustworthy ways to save or invest without getting scammed or overwhelmed.
SOURCES (60)
“Kid was injured, and they are going to settle out as a lump sum payment. After medical bills are paid there will be $50k There is a high chance in 2-10years he will need more medical work done, probably $10k So I want to invest…”
You're good relax and enjoy and don't spend what you saved
50% savings rate is fine. Go live your life. Go have fun.
“I put 32 percent for over a decade. I was gamifying saving money on everything in my life.”
“Like /u/sonofhudson said, you are spending a lot right now. Let's look at three (3) phases of your financial life. Phase 1 -- Now-2031 (You turn 65 and start taking SS) Income $1,875 a month SS Phase 2 -- 2031-2038 (Your husbands life expectancy) Income $4,875 a month SS Phase 3 -- 2038 -- Remainder of your Life Income $3,000 a month SS Your assets $153k traditional $80k Roth $1.2MM taxable (business sale proceeds + savings) Can you cut your current $12k spending down? Like closer to $6k a m”
This is it right here. OP, at what point will you be more afraid is running out of time than running out of money? Put another way: Quit trading time you don’t…
“Pay off your debt and invest the money. I wouldn’t buy a house with it, personally. This is your “my life/job/health/etc are fucked and I need to float myself for a while” money. This is peace of mind if my partner cheats and I need to break the lease money. Having a safety net that you can tap in to and not be trapped. I definitely would NOT be spending it on a house or car or other luxuries. That’s how you get into problems in the first place.”
“You can learn a lifetime of financial literacy from watching the money guys on YouTube. I didn’t start taking finances seriously until I was 30 but I learned so much from them and there is a book called I will teach you to be rich by ramit sethi which I have read 3 times. The first time I didn’t grasp everything but the second read was a big eye opener for me and my family. I’d just absorb as much info as you can so when you do get the money you have a plan regardless of how much it actually end”
“I’m receiving a windfall from selling my business. Should receive the funds end of October. I already have 2 years of expenses in 4% high yield savings plus Should I wait until after the election to put the new money into VT to let chaos settle first? 60F and 75M (we will depend on this money to not have to work anymore) submitted by /u/Consistent_Jury2416 [link] [comments]”
“I’ve been advised to sell stuff. My brother in Christ, I don’t own anything of value that would sell or that I don’t use, and if you do you’re better off than me. Worn down 25 year old IKEA furniture, used pots and pans or clothes that have been washed 500 times just don’t sell.”
“Sounds like best investment may be in yourself. You keep saying you have no skills, experience, schooling. This could be a perfect opportunity to address any/all of that.”
“The thing is, you could make more by putting that money somewhere else. But not having any debt feels pretty great. It also depends how liquid you need to be. Would you not have a year of savings left over? Probably don’t.”
“Greetings. I'm at odds with which direction to go. I might have about 12k to use what I've already learned about business and go in a different direction, or I can keep going with my slow moving physical product e-commerce business. I am in the US and most suppliers would be foreign it seems. I'm probably at the point where I can switch directions if I want, or I can keep treading current business. It probably doesn't matter since Ive learned massive info anyways, hence making it”
“Do not take the money out and invest unless you have a solid plan. Notice the people telling you to take it out aren't telling you where to put it. Just "if"s ,"mights", "usually" and "maybes". Listen to them and you will be lucky to have your whole 80K at 55.”
“Well, if you invest all 80k and if the market grows 15% YoY for 23 years you'll have $2.16 million at 55 whereas 2800/month for 40 years provided you live that long is 1.2 million. And if the market continues for another 5 years after the 23 you'd have 4.32 million at 60.”
“really relate to this similar goals to retire early. I’m 22 and reached around $300k net worth after working as a welder since I was 17. I thought I’d take a year off, move to the Netherlands, travel a bit and figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Instead, I’ve ended up having a pretty major existential crisis and got quite depressed after 4 months of being here.”
“It’s been a bull market since 2009 save Covid. Were are due for a massive correction. Don’t count on continued returns to that magnitude.”
“About to close a 12m deal that probably shouldn’t even be possible in my segment. Quota is 1.2 million. The deal economics puts the payout at about 30% of gross profit with accelerators. Gross profit is 60% The comp plan in this case pays the deal out over the course of 12 months for cash collection reasons (contract to be paid monthly). So I’ll be paid monthly over time. I’m seriously concerned about the company windfalling this or doing something to get rid of me to avoid paying me out the ful”
“You are spread to thin. All of the things you mentioned can make you a fortune, but only if you pick one and say no to the rest. The Home flipping would obviously be the most risky and because of it the most profitable if you can actually relay on your skills. If you are really good at it, there should be no problem employing a few guys you already have expierence and have the right character to be trained further by you. At some scale, you would have to stop going into the rentals and doing the”
“What you gonna find as you continue through life is that money ain’t the flex we often think it is. Yes, financial security is great but you’ll meet people with plenty of assets that are miserable. Money is a tool, it’s not the goal. At some point you need to figure out why you here on Earth going through all this. Watching numbers on your bank statement get bigger can’t be that.”
“If you put that money to work you can enjoy life a bit more. I’d suggest using 150 for a house deposit, maybe rent out a room to a tenant for added income. Invest the rest for your retirement. You can then start to enjoy life a bit more while earning to maintain yourself.”
“Fully aware taken advice from strangers on the internet isn't recommended however I am curious! If you got £10-£12K, what would you do with it to grow it? I have my thoughts and ideas but I'm curious as to what others might do. I don't have much of a financial background in terms of investing, dabbled in Crypto but more to learn about it for cyber security purposes. Just intrigued submitted by /u/CyberDefender_1 [link] [comments]”
SIPs are for middle class a scheme to get more capital? is that true?
“Life doesn't always follow the plan. Have fun and make memories, but I'd continue to save at some level.”
“5% or below? Don’t pay those off, just keep making the minimum payments. Max out an IRA, set aside some money for an emergency fund if you don’t have one, and invest the rest in taxable brokerage.”
“Put on your own oxygen mask before assisting others. Especially when the others don't exist. If you have no debt beyond a mortgage, have an emergency fund, and are adequately funding your retirement accounts, then it's reasonable to open a 529. It's not what i would do, because you may not even ever have a child. But if you're pretty set on it, it's a piece of cake to change the beneficiary (well, it was for me, your state and plan may vary, but it shouldn't be hard). So”
“tbh probably shouldve specified, all i do is work, exercise and mental health training - i consider that all as part of work since it boosts your results. Sometimes even a 30 minutes walk will bring you more money just by avoiding wrong decisions. Last sentence yeah 100%, shouldve added that”
“I have some lump sum money I’m wishing to invest in the market, but am worried about a few things: Market uncertainty and crash possibility in the near future (1-5 years) On the flip side, Potential lost gains from leaving too much in cash How much liquid cash to hold to stay safe For 1/2 I’m considering investing half the sum initially, and spreading the other half over 6 months. I’m not really sure how to best balance the risk of 1/2. (In terms of what I’m investing in, just VT lol) For 3 I’m”
The advice by others is undeniable. take the f***king money buddy.
“I’m a proponent of explaining what this means to people who know nothing about investments.”
“I would pay the taxes, because there's a serious risk you end up with $0 if you wait for a year. Who knows what can happen. See the 35% as insurance against losing the whole sum. 6.5M is fatFIRE level life-changing money, not worth risking it all to get maybe 2M more.”
“Im in my 20's there's nothing to lose but a lot to gain by working hard and I feel a lot of relief knowing my future and the close ones is secured or at minimum will be much better than they ever wished for. I can easily enjoy in work breaks since it doesnt require me to always be present at a specific place”
“You'll actually be okay. Based upon numbers crunching it depends on how much returns you get. At a 10% return (general return of the stock market) using 160k as a starting point and 20 years when you were ready to retire not adding any more money you're looking at over a million.$1,076,400. If you retire at 65. (The number is actually a little more but I don't know how close you are to your next birthday) If you work another 5 years. Number actually multiplies. $1,733,552.95 based up”
I'd think there might be some Puerto Rico hacks available to OP.
“I mean, what’s the point of having a lot of money if you have no friends or family? You don’t have to make every decision to optimize keeping the most amount of money. Maybe there’s an amount that is good enough for you.”
“Take the payout, now, pay your taxes, and diversify your investments. Likelihood is you will get fleeced if you delay your payout. Don't let over-optimizing screw you.”
“Take the tax bill and invest the rest, and live off the dividends. It is not worth the stress of uprooting your whole life to save that money. Yes, multi million dollar tax bills suck, but you never know how much time you have, or more importantly, how much time your loved ones have. My mother dropped dead at 68 one year after she retired. All that work she did to align everything and get the timing right was immediately marked to zero.”
“That’s just it. Current living situation is advantageous for building wealth. 2-4 more years would be significant”
“You can fail spectacularly tons of times and still have parachutes. Swing for the fences bud. Or you can just follow a budget and basically never have to worry about finances and hang out. Happy for ya bud, enjoy.”
“I would travel and find some cities you like. You could have a 2m annual spend and still be just fine. I like skiing and playing golf so I’d buy some condos in some ski/golf destinations. Unless you’re in a position where a few years is going to significantly increase your wealth I’d retire and travel.”
“Same thing everyone else said, Plus the odds of you sticking to that investment plan as an early enlisted realistically is damn near zero. You quite literally won’t survive on half your pay check. Especially as an e-1 and e-2. The only way to pull that off is no car, no outside chow hall food, no weekend get aways, and basically no life it will be miserable. As a former enlisted Marine and current business owner you need to focus on your mental health atleast until you get to E-4. Study the stoc”
“I would cut down the loan to an amount that you can have the lowest interest rate(if that is a thing there) or maybe 50% of house value and then invest the rest in a diversified portfolio.”
“You have to look at the wiki and look at the prime directive and flow chart. You generally have the right idea but missing a lot of pieces. For one, your emergency fund is not for you to spend later. It’s for emergencies. You want to put enough in there to cover about 6 months of your expenses or so in case you lose your job or out of work for that long. This is money you never touch. You can put in HYSA and just forget about it. Your house fund or down the road big expense fund would be a whole”
“You’re on a great track at 21. For emergencies/down payment, keep it boring: SGOV or a high‑yield savings account. Use VOO/VXUS/SCHD only for long-term. Auto-transfer $50, $100 weekly so you never see it.”
“Fair enough and good for you, but have you considered investing the money and letting it grow, and then some time down the line you can donate stock, with the fair value market being tax-deductible? in the long run you could end up donating much more, at some point you could have a pool of funds that you donate X amount from every year and still have it appreciating”
“Yeah another comment said to buy T-bills in case you lose your jobs for a year, and my first thought was to save up in case you KEEP your jobs and have to pay for day care.”
“If you barely have any actual savings then you should pick an established bank with a HYSA and start building some. Otherwise you’re risking what little money you have hoping to make an extra $2.00”
“I don't have my original post, but I asked for everyone's advice back in early 2024 when I received about $220,000. Before that, all of my investments were from DCAing portions of my paychecks. I ended up putting the entire inheritance in a brokerage account and into VTSAX. I also received an inherited traditional IRA of something around $60k, and that is all in a bond fund. It's about $40k now because I'm actually required to take some out every year until it's depleted in 1”