What to do with an extra $10,000?

[FIRE Realtor]

I have an extra 10K sitting in my checking account and not sure what to do with it.  I left it sitting there for months thinking we might want it for a downpayment on another house, but we've decided to stay in our current house for now.  So what do I do with it?

1.  Keep it saved for a downpayment (we might change our minds in a couple years and want to move), but put it somewhere it can gain interest.  (Where would this be?)

2.  Put it towards our current mortgage.  ($84K balance, 5.125% interest.  Recently seeing our end of year mortgage statement and paying 3 times more interest than principal was what made me decide to take action here!)

3.  Save it somewhere else - open an Roth IRA?  We don't have much saved for retirement at this point, I am not working and my husband doesn't make much and is almost 40. 

Thanks for any advice!

[Dynasty]

Do you have an emergency fund?

[FIRE Realtor]

Yup already have the emergency fund. 

[smalllife]

3.  Save it somewhere else - open an Roth IRA?  We don't have much saved for retirement at this point, I am not working and my husband doesn't make much and is almost 40. 

I say open a Roth IRA - from what you posted it seems like this area is the most important.  If you do it before April you can still count it as a 2012 contribution and have an account open for 2013.

[Another Reader]

If you qualify, open 2012 Roth IRA's for both of you.  Then try to fund them through cash flow for 2013. 

[twinge]

If you qualify, open 2012 Roth IRA's for both of you.  Then try to fund them through cash flow for 2013.

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