If you had no jeep and just acquired $100,000....

[Alans17]

Getting a windfall wouldn’t much incentivize me to buy a new vehicle, but it might convince me to get a nicer one if I were already in the market. Either way, I’d first take care of the following:

1. Tithe

2. Top off my emergency fund (already close)

3. Finish funding my daughters’s college (they’re 6 and 1)

Anything left over would probably go into the emergency fund, but I’d grant myself the option to spend it on a nicer vehicle, vacation, new TV, etc. We’re already on pace for a secure retirement and putting it into a retirement account would only tie it up for another 25 years.

Or the obligatory meme...

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[jcnoles]

I have two daughters so I would invest the money to pay for their future weddings.

 

[Alans17]

I have two daughters so I would invest the money to pay for their future weddings.

Crap. That’s wasn’t on my radar. One more thing to stress out about.

 

[JTBurns]

Put your down payment of like 20k or whatever gives you a manageable payment and invest the rest. Assuming you make more on the investment than you pay in interest you win out.

 

[FishChowder]

To be clear, I do not have $100k. In a perfect world, I take an initial investment of $2500 and turn it into 25 million bucks. Yes, if by some miracle, the stock gods rain bills down on me like a rapper in an early 2000s music video, I would happily re-invest the majority of it into something that is going to make my money work for me and live off the income or interest while I finish out the last few years of my career, move to Bora Bora and live in a hut on the water while I have my little rum bar on the beach until I am too old to do anything but drool and eat blended steak and potatoes smoothies. I love the idea of making money while doing nothing. Who doesn't? This type of advice is obviously the best and most sound advice for long-term benefit for just about anyone.

I have seen a lot of flashy houses, cars and toys from members on here. Many of us (the forum collective) have made some very smart choices in our lives to get those things. I am guessing just many of us went the other way and can only dream about the things they won't ever have and then there are the rest of us who made some good choices and some bad and live pretty much pay cheque to pay cheque but have enough to get by and still have some beer in the fridge after they feed their kids.

That said, the ideas on how to re-invest are interesting to me and hopefully things I can one day apply to make some of my dreams come true. Just as interesting to me, is how one would burn through $100,000 because....well....ya can't take it with ya and your kids are a-holes and don't deserve it (mine are angels...mostly...just for the record).

So yeah, fire away with the best and the worst ideas you can come up with.

 

[FishChowder]

If you live in a state with legalized marijuana, open a dispensary.

It is legal in Canada now but here in Nova Scotia the government controls it all. They have basically shut down all of the private dispensaries and it is only sold through the liqour stores that have had the cannabis section added on. I have seen some ghetto-looking places pop up on the Native reserves as they seem to be exempt from those rules and can sell to anyone. It's never been for me and I watched a lot of people invest in cannabis stocks as it was becoming legalised, some made money if they cashed out early as the prices went up in the beginning but quickly went the other way as the growers expanded too quickly and cuts were and are still being made and stocks ended up shitting the bed. Lots of people lost lots of money. Who knows what they will do next, especially if more states legalise it.

 

[AzRob]

So yeah, fire away with the best and "the worst" ideas you can come up with.

Here's a bad idea.... Buy a couple of new Bronco sports....... Because they look soooo GREAT!!!!!

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I sold my Silverado, sold my 70 Javelin, and made up the rest from that money and bought a JT. Wasn't really thinking of a new truck necessarily, but I saw one in a show room and decided the JT was a good chance to update, go smaller and something more fun.
I haven't been without at least one Jeep since about 1987 (save for 2 or 3 years we had to cut expenses and went with a car instead of a Jeep of some sort)
So the situation was pretty real for me.
Part of the rest was set aside for my wife to have one of her dreams - a "sunroom" or as she calls it, "the porch" - a small addition to the house to replace our aging and starting to rot deck on the back of the house. Then what was left went into our emergency fund (for if the well pump burns out, the roof leaks or something big breaks)

We currently have 3 Jeep vehicles. 2021 Grand Cherokee Limited, 2020 Gladiator Overland, 2004 WJ Special Edition, and I guess I can sort of count my 82 SX4 with a 94 Grand Cherokee 4.0 in it. So we have 3 Jeeps and 4 vehicles with Jeep engines. (2 3.6 and 2 4.0)

 

[Zonk]

I'd spend it on wine, women, and a new Jeep......the rest I would just waste.

 

[Shackleton]

Crap. That’s wasn’t on my radar. One more thing to stress out about.

My daughter is in 2nd grade- I’ve got a roadmap as to how I will make college happen But guess I kind of forgot about the $$ part For a wedding. I like real estate but the market must be due for a correction in the coming years although inventory does not indicate that. I’m observing from the sidelines

 

[fun2drum]

Long post alert. If you don't want to read all of it, then skip to the last paragraph for the short answer.

Remember that no matter whether you buy or lease, any vehicle is eating up your money in depreciation along the way. I think paying it up front lump sum is the absolute worst thing you can do. That just ties up your savings for years in a bad "investment" deal that guarantees a loss. OR - you can offset the depreciation by using other peoples' money for the vehicle purchase and then investing your cash elsewhere.

I don't look at a vehicle as an asset at all (because it's not), so I'm not putting any more lump sum money into it than I have to. I figure out how much monthly payment that I can put on autopay without missing it, making sure it's enough to never put me upside down throughout the process. I use an amortization calculator app to show me year to year what the numbers will be. I use that info to decide how much to put down, negotiate the deal, and then I don't look back. I haven't been upside down with a car loan since I've been doing it this way. I think the buying experience is less stressful for both the dealer and me when done this way, because there's no guessing what they have to do - and I can't be manipulated or distracted. They know up front what I'm willing to pay both down and monthly. All they've got to do is make the numbers work out and I'm a buyer. or not.

Another thing I'll do from time to time with my wife's car is wait for one of the lease special incentives and go negotiate the details. Yes you can negotiate a lease, and sometimes the numbers work out way better over time than if you were to buy. I think Dave Ramsey is a smart guy who's advice can help people out of financial problems, but he's dead wrong to say leasing is stupid ever time. He sells his system by saying things like that, so good for him. Anyway, she now has a loaded BMW X2 with hardly anything down, and a very low three year lease payment that never goes upside down. At the end of the lease we turn it in and start over - our savings still intact and warranty never runs out. We may get a call sometime after two years with a new lease offer we can't refuse, assuming she wants another BMW. With her driving, there wasn't anything else comparable in actual cost of ownership. It was a no-brainer that I would do over and over.

So - Don't carry your cash to the dealership! Invest it wisely elsewhere and go negotiate a smokin' deal with your new Jeep.

 

[WaterDR]

I once saw a stat that MBA stars are broke within only a couple of years after they league the league.

It’s just “stuff” that’s all it is.

 

[WaterDR]

Long post alert. If you don't want to read all of it, then skip to the last paragraph for the short answer.

Remember that no matter whether you buy or lease, any vehicle is eating up your money in depreciation along the way. I think paying it up front lump sum is the absolute worst thing you can do. That just ties up your savings for years in a bad "investment" deal that guarantees a loss. OR - you can offset the depreciation by using other peoples' money for the vehicle purchase and then investing your cash elsewhere.

I don't look at a vehicle as an asset at all (because it's not), so I'm not putting any more lump sum money into it than I have to. I figure out how much monthly payment that I can put on autopay without missing it, making sure it's enough to never put me upside down throughout the process. I use an amortization calculator app to show me year to year what the numbers will be. I use that info to decide how much to put down, negotiate the deal, and then I don't look back. I haven't been upside down with a car loan since I've been doing it this way. I think the buying experience is less stressful for both the dealer and me when done this way, because there's no guessing what they have to do - and I can't be manipulated or distracted. They know up front what I'm willing to pay both down and monthly. All they've got to do is make the numbers work out and I'm a buyer. or not.

Another thing I'll do from time to time with my wife's car is wait for one of the lease special incentives and go negotiate the details. Yes you can negotiate a lease, and sometimes the numbers work out way better over time than if you were to buy. I think Dave Ramsey is a smart guy who's advice can help people out of financial problems, but he's dead wrong to say leasing is stupid ever time. He sells his system by saying things like that, so good for him. Anyway, she now has a loaded BMW X2 with hardly anything down, and a very low three year lease payment that never goes upside down. At the end of the lease we turn it in and start over - our savings still intact and warranty never runs out. We may get a call sometime after two years with a new lease offer we can't refuse, assuming she wants another BMW. With her driving, there wasn't anything else comparable in actual cost of ownership. It was a no-brainer that I would do over and over.

So - Don't carry your cash to the dealership! Invest it wisely elsewhere and go negotiate a smokin' deal with your new Jeep.

Overall leasing IS the most profitable financial tool for the industry. The industry wins the most the customer loses the most. That’s not to say there are “good” and “bad” leases. Vehicles such as a BMW has horrid depreciation and leasing may actually be a better approach. But the beat approach financially would be to buy the one some other person already leased.

However, there are some good leasing “rules of thumb”. For example if you can lease a vehicle generally with no money out of pocket and if the payment is 1% or less then the MSRP you are doing well. 0.8% and you are doing great.

But the biggest problem with leasing for the buyer, is that they look at each transaction rather then the holistic view of tacking multiple transactions back to back.

For example if person A leases a Gladiator for 42 month term. Then leases another one for 42 months and person B buys one and pays it off over 84 months. Person B comes out $15,000 ahead and that includes buying tires and extended warranty. But person A just gets to drive two vehicles in that time frame.

BUT if person B keeps his for another 42 months and person A leases another, the gap gets even bigger.

 

[WaterDR]

My daughter is in 2nd grade- I’ve got a roadmap as to how I will make college happen But guess I kind of forgot about the $$ part For a wedding. I like real estate but the market must be due for a correction in the coming years although inventory does not indicate that. I’m observing from the sidelines

Have one that graduated a few years ago and 1 in college now.

Had one that got into Norte Dame. It’s $78k a year now. Now amount of savings would have allowed her to go there . She went to a Big 10 school instead.

 

[WaterDR]

To be clear, I do not have $100k. In a perfect world, I take an initial investment of $2500 and turn it into 25 million bucks. Yes, if by some miracle, the stock gods rain bills down on me like a rapper in an early 2000s music video, I would happily re-invest the majority of it into something that is going to make my money work for me and live off the income or interest while I finish out the last few years of my career, move to Bora Bora and live in a hut on the water while I have my little rum bar on the beach until I am too old to do anything but drool and eat blended steak and potatoes smoothies. I love the idea of making money while doing nothing. Who doesn't? This type of advice is obviously the best and most sound advice for long-term benefit for just about anyone.

I have seen a lot of flashy houses, cars and toys from members on here. Many of us (the forum collective) have made some very smart choices in our lives to get those things. I am guessing just many of us went the other way and can only dream about the things they won't ever have and then there are the rest of us who made some good choices and some bad and live pretty much pay cheque to pay cheque but have enough to get by and still have some beer in the fridge after they feed their kids.

That said, the ideas on how to re-invest are interesting to me and hopefully things I can one day apply to make some of my dreams come true. Just as interesting to me, is how one would burn through $100,000 because....well....ya can't take it with ya and your kids are a-holes and don't deserve it (mine are angels...mostly...just for the record).

So yeah, fire away with the best and the worst ideas you can come up with.

I think most people probably spend money in a way that they make up all kinds of excuses to justify it. My favorite one is “because I deserve it”. I most certainly have done that too. My wife and I earn way more than most people do. I See the things people buy and do and I think it’s idiotic.

My only advice to a young person starting out would be to max out your 401k from the start and never look back. And overall make sure you are saving and investing beyond the 401k.

As someone sitting on 7 figures and will be looking at 8 when I retire I have been far from perfect. But hey...you also have to live too. But all of us should be thinking about what happens down the road.

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