If you have $10,000

[dafoe1999]

What would you do with 10,000 today? invest? Emergency fund?

[Villanelle]

Is that the only thing I have (no other cash, savings, or investments)?  If that's the case, I'd see if I could find a way to spend some of it on something that would allow me to make more money.  I'd keep most of the rest in some sort of fairly liquid vehicle as an emergency fund.   

[dafoe1999]

Yes you have a six month emergency fund and you have no debt except mortgage

[Frankies Girl]

Yes you have a six month emergency fund and you have no debt except mortgage

I'd invest based off those parameters. (and hey, there's a great sale going on in the stock market right now :D )

[jrhampt]

I would use it to lower mortgage debt or purchase my yearly allotment of i-bonds.

[dragoncar]

Plastics

[smalllife]

Finish a few quality of life projects that I have been post-poning to keep up my savings rate = $1,000

Vamp up the emergency fund = $1,000

And invest the rest!

[prodarwin]

hookers and blow

[matchewed]

Make it rain.

[CU Tiger]

I would donate $1000 to charity, send $1000 extra on my mortgage, put $1000 in my emergency fund, set aside $1000 in savings for our next vacation, and put the other $6000 in our mutual funds for retirement.

[zinnie]

Invest it all.

[KatieSSS]

Assuming this is a one-time windfall...I would use $7,000 to pay off the rest of my student loans. Then take the remaining $3,000 and beef up my emergency fund. I love daydreaming about these things :) Keeps me focused on what I should do with my money.

[ioseftavi]

If I had debt costing me more than perhaps 3.5% or so, I'd probably pay it off.

If I lived in a region with attractively priced rental properties, I would consider buying one using the $10k plus other funds for a downpayment. 

Otherwise, I'd hold onto the $10,000 for investing and wait for better opportunities to buy into the market.

I don't believe in market timing for my ongoing contributions (401k, IRA, etc) but for lump-sump investments I would prefer not to buy into the market when many different metrics suggest that if the market isn't overpriced, it is - at the very least - not sufficiently cheap to be buying broad-based indices or funds.  There are occasional opportunities out there in individual stocks, but the average stock (which is all an index is) these days is priced on the pricier side of "fair", I think. 5 years of steady gains, dynamite short-term performance, and a lack of attractive alternatives have made stocks the place to be. 

Before anyone asks, I'd keep the money in a money market.  Yes, I'm aware that the money market would earn nothing (to be precise, it would earn about 0.01%), but I'm OK with that.  The point of holding cash (for me at least) is not to earn a wonderful rate of return.  It's because you want the money to be there when you reach for it.  At some point in the next few years, it's likely that stocks, houses, bonds, or some other desirable asset class will be sufficiently cheap to buy in.  At that point, I would prefer to have all $10,000 available.

[willn]

I'd buy someone a nice present then jam it into our Roths.  Some sexy index fund probably.

[steveo]

My parents gave me 10,000 dollars yesterday. They reckon they had a good year with regards to the market. It goes straight against the mortgage. I also have 2 brothers and they are also getting 10 grand each.

My parents are the typical retirement savers - they saved well, didn't overspend and retired late all the while earning pretty good income (dad was a doctor). Dad is 71 (retired about 5 years) and mum is 68. Mum still works part time because she likes it. They go on a big overseas holiday every year that would not be cheap and they spend on whatever they want. The thing is at their spending rate the money is not going to disappear any time soon.

[Carrie]

I would fully fund Roths, (or finish funding them for the year), throw a bit into college savings, throw a bit to the mortgage. If there are any savings accounts that need filling, for example: vacation fund for next year, home or auto maintenance account, etc., I'd go ahead and fill those up too.  (See now, I've just "spent" way more than $10k right there.)

If there is any other debt, besides mortgage (in my case there's not) I'd put it towards debt. 

[Chowder]

Boring answer: Same thing I did with my bonus last month, pay off student loans @ 7.92%

[Roland of Gilead]

5000 $2 scratch and win tickets

With luck, I might win $10,000

[Zaga]

Finish up 2013 Roths, and put the rest in my car replacement fund.

[mustacheme]

I'd finish funding my ROTH for the year, and put the rest 1/2 on my mortgage and 1/2 in other stocks. I think that's what I'd do anyway... maybe I'd just put it all toward my mortgage because I really want that thing gone.

[Lentils5eva]

I would buy two honda insights used (1st gen) and use them for nerf jousting.

Srsly though, if you can find areas to save money that require upfront costs or fees that aren't in your usual cashflow (bike, more fuel efficient car, cancellation fees to drop an expensive cell phone plan)  you could put a portion of that 10,000 into the kinds of "investments" that pay for themselves in less than a year.  This is of course assuming you aren't already totally optimized.  These kinds of investments can have a huge ROI if you don't want to or can't invest more money in the market or paying down debt.

[Kira]

I would buy a small web business but I am not like Regular Folks in that regard. :)

If I didn't especially need the money (mortgage is not burdensome, etc) I would probably save half of it, bump up my 401k another percentage, and give a bunch away via kickstarter, very large tips to waitresses, etc.

[Bakari]

If I had debt costing me more than perhaps 3.5% or so, I'd probably pay it off.

If I lived in a region with attractively priced rental properties, I would consider buying one using the $10k plus other funds for a downpayment. 

Otherwise, I'd hold onto the $10,000 for investing and wait for better opportunities to buy into the market.

I don't believe in market timing for my ongoing contributions (401k, IRA, etc) but for lump-sump investments I would prefer not to buy into the market when many different metrics suggest that if the market isn't overpriced, it is - at the very least - not sufficiently cheap to be buying broad-based indices or funds.  There are occasional opportunities out there in individual stocks, but the average stock (which is all an index is) these days is priced on the pricier side of "fair", I think. 5 years of steady gains, dynamite short-term performance, and a lack of attractive alternatives have made stocks the place to be. 

Before anyone asks, I'd keep the money in a money market.  Yes, I'm aware that the money market would earn nothing (to be precise, it would earn about 0.01%), but I'm OK with that.  The point of holding cash (for me at least) is not to earn a wonderful rate of return.  It's because you want the money to be there when you reach for it.  At some point in the next few years, it's likely that stocks, houses, bonds, or some other desirable asset class will be sufficiently cheap to buy in.  At that point, I would prefer to have all $10,000 available.

+1