How would you invest $40k?

[Radar]

Pay off mortgage if you got enough, or put it in a IRA of some sort and leave it alone.

[BigL]

To answer ssome questions, I do haved 2 kids but college is already taken care of and the only debt I have is some mortgage

Do you have 401k at your job? Do you max out the IRS amount of 18,500? If not bump up deductions and use the a little of the cash to pay yourself back the difference you added. Not only does this help you with tax free growth for retirement but it also reduces your taxable income for this year.

Do you have any home improvements or additions that you have put off? Some improvements can also be tax deductible so look into those.

Do you invest in the stock market, other than 401k? If not start with about 10k in an index ETF like SPY and IWM. That gets you immediately diversified. Then pick a few other stocks with rest of cash. If your covered here then use some to increase existing positions or further get more diversified. Hold 5-10k back for speculation/gamble type trades like crypto. Or on the gamble trades could also go with ETF in something that could be big in a year or two but spreading your risk and opportunity around. For example if you think marijuana stocks are going to be big in a few years buy MJ. If you think block chain is next Internet bubble buy BLCN. In both cases you don't have to pick any individual company and can still get good exposure to that area.

Oh and buy your wife something nice for mother's day!

[BigL]

And if you don't already have an IRA, open a Roth IRA. I'm assuming the 40k is after tax money so Roth give you tax free growth and withdrawal after you turn 59 1/2.

[DosToros]

There are a lot of good options above at verying levels of risk. I would Get a Scottrade type account and spread it out over a few dividend paying stocks. NGL seems to be good for a start.

[antonlsu]

Pay off any debt...

Then land

Then put it on Tiger to win the Open

[DosToros]

If you want to get the most out of the money it’s most likely going to take a lot of patience. Whether it’s 401k, ira, land, college, stocks etc. make your investment and forget about it for 10 or so years.

[BigL]

If you want to get the most out of the money it’s most likely going to take a lot of patience. Whether it’s 401k, ira, land, college, stocks etc. make your investment and forget about it for 10 or so years.

Careful with buy, hope, and forget strategies. 2 yrs ago GE would have been at every dividend seeker's list for buy and forget strategy. You need to do your homework and manage your investments. Buy and hold and dollar cost averaging are just ways to not admit you picked the wrong stock.

I saw something that said the average life of a S&P 500 company is under 20 yrs. The OP is 37 will work longer than over 1/2 the of those companies. He doesn't have the luxury of buy and forget about it. The advice of buy and hold or dollar cost averaging were created when the average lifespan of S&P 500 companies was over 60 years.

Here's the link about the average lifespan of S&P 500 companies: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/24/tech...-20-years.html

[Ætheling]

Land/realestate. Im done with the stock market. I have been making awesome money on buying and selling land and at first it wasn't even my intention to do so for profit but with land you cant help but to make money.

[Passafist]

Man, if I inherited $40k I'd probably buy a hunting ranch in South Texas and build a nice rustic cabin and maybe a UTV or something.

Have you priced land lately?

[12RingKing]

Actually, the amount of land stays the same.

You don’t live near the coast.... its not staying the sane

[LetsGetBloody]

Pretend you never got it and don’t get too fancy. I’m no expert but that seems to be where most mess up and lose their money. Without having the ability to study companies & the market full time every day, this is what I would do...
First, at 40 years old myself and having 15-20 years of work left, I’d transfer the entire balance to a Marcus high-yield savings by Goldman Sachs to earn 1.6% interest in an FDIC insured account up to $250k. Then, I’d consider dollar cost averaging investing 85% into a low-cost S&P 500 ETF through Vanguard (it’s free to trade Vanguard funds and the symbol is VOO) and then split the rest between a bond fund, and international index, and probably use 2% to invest in possibly speculative investments like Bitcoin, etc. I view investments loke Bitcoin as going to the casino though. Sound good but can be quite risky. No way i’m invest more than 5% of my money there. Just Google dollar cost averaging...fairly simple and straightforward. Land & rentals are pretty solid imo too but a little more study & work involved. Good luck and hope you turn it into $180k (10% roi for 15 years)

[Goldeneagle]

Pay off some debt in hopes of getting to retire before I'm 70.

[OleTomTalker]

Doesn't take nearly as much to live on when you don't owe anyone anything....


Now to the buying question, I would recommend you buy 2 or 3 new comfortable deer blinds for you and the other guys at the lease first!

[Freer]

Blow it all. Go on a dream vacation. Use the money to make unforgettable memories with your family.

[BuckSmasher]

Why in the world would you pay off a a low interest rate mortgage on your house? Can someone explain this to me?

Edit: I would buy rental property in a good school district, or a index fund like someone said earlier.