Here goes (this is based on future estimations):
Life Situation: Married, no kids, one cat. I'm 30, he's 29
Gross Monthly Salary/Wages: $800 for me, $2500 for husband
Pre-tax deductions: Nothing
Other Ordinary Income: NA. I'm hoping to make more, but it's unclear at this point.
Qualified Dividends & Long Term Capital Gains: NA
Rental Income, Actual Expenses, and Depreciation: $300 room rental in primary residence, average $250 house rental on investment property. This is profit.
Adjusted Gross Income: $3850
Taxes: Around $500 a month.
Current expenses:
Mortgage: $790
Student Loan: $666 (the irony is not lost on me)
HOA: $130
Gas & bus fare: $200 (will drop substantially to about $100 or less)
Phone: $80
Utilities (gas + electric): $150
Food: $350
Tithing: $300 (Utah, so not negotiable)
Entertainment: $50 (books, netflix, etc.)
Miscellaneous: $100
IRA: $110
Assets:
Roth IRA: appr. $7,000
IRA: $2,000
My retirement accounts: approx. $18,000. Not sure about his.
Cash: appr. $7,000 (varies depending on repairs to investment property)
House: About 20k in equity
House 2: About 12k in equity
Liabilities:
Student loans:
$37895 @ 6.55%
$16916@ 6.3%
$3601 @ 1.86
All above are on IBR - Set payment at $568 a month.
$3835 @ 5.5% - $98 a month
Specific Question(s): I just left/in the process of leaving my job and I anticipate a lump payout of vacation time of around $2,600. This, added to my current cash, would allow me to buy a small investment property, which nets about $200 a month profit. Or I could keep it. Or I could use it to pay of my $3,835 debt and free up an extra $98 a month. Paying off the other loans doesn't change my payment amount, which is based on my income. I've been trying to pay stuff off aggressively.
Other things of note, I'm going into self-employment, so while it's unlikely I'll make nothing, I'm not sure how much I can bring in, especially at first. I have another part-time job, which will cover the student loans and we can make it on my husband's income alone. I'm tempted to just invest the money since I think that will net the largest return, but I'm also concerned about not having any real cash available in case an emergency happens. We have insurance through my husband on a high deductible plan, but we have enough in the HSA to meet the deductible. I'll also keep applying for jobs to try to find one closer to home.
My specific question is what do I do with the cash I have and will be getting?