

Ask HN: What to do with $1 million - justatestacct

Posting from a fake account...<p>My friend has just about $1 million (inherited) in cash (well, it's being managed by a money manager right now, so it is being invested in I believe index funds and bonds, but it could become cash quickly).<p>He's in his early 30s. Good job-- $125k/year or so in bay area. Not a hacker, but generally interested in computers. No family yet. He is somewhat risk-averse, however.<p>The question: what should he be doing with his money?
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dstein
Assuming he wants to invest it but has little experience with money he should
keep most of the money where it is, for now.

Maybe take $20,000 out and put it into a brokerage account and start learning
to trade with it. _IF_ and only if he's able to successfully trade that $20K
and turn it into $40K or more, over a 2 year period then should he even
attempt to trade with larger amounts. You need the discipline, and the
experience of being wrong to truly understand money management.

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byoung2
I would definitely pay off as much debt as possible...hopefully with a
$125k/year job he has kept debt to a minimum, but just in case he has credit
card debt, student loans, car payment, etc., I would pay these off.

If he's risk-averse, he probably has little experience with investing, so the
money is probably fine where it is.

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justatestacct
He has no debt.

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tlammens
keep the money invested (maybe in lower risk products) and enjoy life? ;-)

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Scott_MacGregor
He might want to use some of it to buy a nicer house. Real estate is low
priced right now. If he waits, the house prices may outstrip his after tax
cash gains from investing.

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eof
That is so dependent on what he wants to do. Does he want to quit his job and
shoot for the stars? Does he want to retire in 10 years? Does he have a
family?

Being risk-averse and getting a 10 year income windfall really says to me,
fucking live it up. You can retire on that in some countries, keep and orchard
and live like a king.

Personally I'd buy a small estate in a nice part of a shitty country with
decent prospects for getting back and forth to the states. I'd look to buy
things that are simultaneously fun/useful and investments. I would definitely
quit my job unless i _loved_ it and spend years and a couple hundred k
figuring out how to make a living what I love doing.

