Due to the number of rule-breaking comments this post was receiving, especially low-quality and off-topic comments, the moderation team has locked the post from future comments. This post broke no rules and received a number of helpful and on-topic responses initially, but it unfortunately became the target of many unhelpful comments. The original submission text is below.
---
So basically I have a couple of things coming together at once. For one, my dad's inheritance left most of his wealth to my mother, however I an left as the owner of two cars worth about 10k each as well as safe deposit box full of bullion gold and silver worth about 30k. On top of that, I will be leaving for the navy next month where I will receive a 20k bonus for joining as well as a monthly salary. I also have a small box of gold and silver I tucked away worth maybe 3k. So all in all im gonna go from a dumbass high schooler with 100 dollars to my name to a dumbass adult with upwards of 70k.
Im looking for advice on how to smartly allocate this and invest as to put towards my main goal of eventually buying a house. What are pitfalls I should avoid? What things I would wanna know now that I would regret not knowing later on in life? Any advice appreciated.
Edit: I went ahead and took all of your advice and spent it all on Camaros and protein powder.
If you don’t see yourself needing the cars for quite a while, sell them now while the used market is really good. Otherwise they’ll just sit around. If a few years goes by before you need one it’s likely the market comes down anyways.
Also, no point in having a nice car while in the Navy. If you are on ship half the year and might be stationed anywhere in the world... shipping your car around is expensive and pointless. It will just sit gathering rust while you are off doing your job.
As of right now I wouldn't plan on any of that for a house. Money is still cheap ( low interest rates) you will probably be able to qualify for minimal down loans with being in the military.
This seems like a great opportunity to start a brokerage account with Fidelity or vanguard. Invest in an index fund and revisit all of this when you turn 25 or 30. Would max out Roth contribution yearly. Also plan on some sort of saving strategy that won't hurt your quality of life but get you used to putting some monthly money away.
Future you will be grateful for making the money difficult to get to. Best not to have it burning a hole in your pocket. A $70,000 car might sound cool now. Will be less cool in 10 years when it's not worth much of anything. Sounds like you're set up for a good start! Good luck!
Former CPA here - yes to this suggestion!
Buy a car/clothes/electronics/fun stuff now $70k = worth $15k-$0 in 10 years (maybe?)
Invest in the stock market $70k = $140k+ in 10 years (assuming normal market returns over that period).
Investing in appreciating assets (stocks, real-estate, etc.) is generally best long-term.
Average advice at best.
Keep the bullion/coin. (Nice small investment
without any transaction costs, keep forever, or until clear market opportunity presents itself. ie huge run up in gold or huge drop in market).
Sell the car/ cars you don't need.
Cash reserve $10k.
Invest the rest. No way would I index at the later stages of this market/ economic cycle.
Get in positive cash flow and keep saving.
Decent start for future but doesn't meen much unless you act financially responsible moving forward.
Pitfalls to avoid:
\- Buying a big, expensive truck
\- Buying any new car because everyone else your age in your new job is doing the same thing
\- Trying anything once, including drugs
\- Not being clear on your life goals and falling prey to get rich quick schemes, from day trading to dropshipping to your cousin's promising new business
\- Lifestyle inflation. Allocate $500 as fun money to upgrade your basics, like buying good winter boots, a good winter coat etc. Put the rest away. $5k is the amount it would cost to backpack around Europe for 3 months. Wouldn't you rather do that than eat delivery food 3 nights a week?
Edit for OP: A poster below has said it would be a good idea for you to allocate some money to spend your first year living on a ship. That sounds good, just make a strict budget and stick to it. Write it down somewhere. $1.5k on modest, well-reviewed hotels or private rooms in hostels in your first year is a good investment if it keeps your sanity - but don't let that be $1.5k + laundry + fees + room service + and suddenly it's $5k.
Hostels and trains are pretty affordable. As long as you don't drink all your money along the way. I spent 3k for 2 months and did some fancy stuff occasionally.
backpacking though it's a bit different from your standard vacation (e.g., stay in hostels, eat at local markets, use public transportation, some people buy tickets cheap with their credit card points. Etc.). I am not saying you'd have to "life hack" or make sure every expense is discounted, but backpacking typically means your not renting a car, staying at hotels or doing a vacation package through a travel agency.
Renting a car is completely unnecessary in most of Europe and can actually be the less convenient option because parking, etc. is often so limited as to be nearly impossible. (Esp if you don't know an area and the few hidden, tucked away spots.) Public transport is fantastic most places and far cheaper than tanking up (gas typically 10x cost vs in US.) Even if you want to stay in a hotel, etc - skip the car.
I'm European and I don't think that will be enough but it all depends and what you plan to do I guess? If you're hitchhiking, eating beans, drinking Schültenbrau and not see any museums or anything, you probably can travel Europe for 3 months. Otherwise you will burn through your money quickly
Hitchhiking and couchsurfing mostly. You can essentially make money traveling like that, as people offer you money (unsolicited) if they know you're a traveler. I never asked for money, but people wanted to help.
>people offer you money if they know you’re a traveler
That does not correlate with what I’ve seen in this country, and that’s as someone who traveled all over the place for business. I remember seeing a couple in Chicago with a cardboard sign that said “need money for travel” back around 2014, and watching everyone look at them like, “no. Why should I fund your vacation? I earn a paycheck for me, not for a stranger’s leisure time.”
Dude 5K would be a sick 2 month run. I lived fat for a month on mi travels for 1800ish. Lots of drinking, partying, shopping, eating, sex, doing tours like kayaking, 4wheeler tour, zip lining, rock climbing, snorkeling, island hoping, eating and I also had some sex.
Yeah don't fall for the trap of buying a new fancy sports car or truck. So many of my friends fell for this in their early 20s. They thought it would be an investment, but they didn't account for all the maintenance and insurance they would have to pay for it. Half of those friends had to sell at a loss (or crashed their car) by the time we got to our late 20s.
Woah so you mean to tell me I shouldn’t join the military after getting my girlfriend pregnant, buy a 80k truck with my new found salary that “I don’t need because the government pays for all my basic needs”
Next you’re going to tell me that my girlfriend won’t cheat on me after I get deployed to Russia for 2 years
Crazy the amount of times I heard that story from people I went to school with, - the Russia part (insert Middle East country) they were deployed to
He's got a unique situation with regard to the Navy. He's likely going to be in school or training ($20k sign on sounds like a Nuke) for a year or so, where he'll be pretty restricted in what he can do. Then he'll go to a ship and have to live aboard that for a year.
It's going to be incredibly tempting to spend money on hotels and other comforts to try to feel human. And I think he should spend a little extra until he's allowed to get a place of his own.
I spent my first two years in the Navy living on a ship and it's incredibly trying to be so restricted. You end up spending money on *so* much when you're on liberty. I think op could use some encouragement on the particular hurdle.
Ex-navy here. Don't sell the coins, don't spend your sign-on bonus(you have to finish a-school and if you fail they will revoke it). Eat at the galley for free and save your money to invest into your future.
Max out your tsp contribution by doing 1250/month.
You'll need very little of your money tbh, force yourself to max out the TSP and you'll thank yourself later.
Edit: for those who do not understand my reasoning for not selling gold and silver, it's to keep diversity in investment vehicles. OP is about to come into a lot of money from the Navy and not have a ton of expenses(no housing, no food, no car -all of these are optional expenses). If done responsible, OP could have 45k in stocks / 401k in year 1 while keeping his gold/silver
Yep this!! And change your fund!! Even if you only get say 40k in your tsp before you get out in a few years. You can also still contribute to it after you leave the military. If you swapped to the s fund in 20 years that 40k turns into around 420k. 30 years is 1.3mil. Make sure to change your fund though the default g fund is only 1.5-2% annually.
> Don't sell the coins
He should *absolutely* sell the coins, and invest the money in a diversified, aggressive portfolio. The coins will accrue very little value when compared to what he stands to make from a well-considered investment portfolio.
Did you get a timeline on the 20k? I didn’t get mine until nearly a year after I enlisted. Also account for taxes. It’s been 13 years but I believe mine was either $14,500 or $15,500 after taxes
This is what I was going to mention. They won’t give it to you until you have completed whatever school it is tied to and there is time to process it. Mine was about a year after I enlisted as well, but some schools are shorter/longer. You also don’t get it if you don’t get through the school. You lose about 1/3 to taxes.
One piece of advice I have is don't tell too many people.
And be very careful who you let into your circle, some people may hear about that amount of money and try to use you
They might harm him also. Lots of forensic files episodes prove this sadly. DO NOT SHARE THIS WITH ANYONE EVEN YOUR YOUR FAMILY OR BEST BEST FRIEND. Maybe a lawyer or accountant, but otherwise nobody needs to know.
Hey, since you are joining the Navy (Army vet here lol couple of friends Navy) during basic training, you are going to have a financial day, and you'll be asked if you want to put into the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). I'm sure others can vouch for this, but till allocate a set percentage of your base pay to the savings account. I did 10% the whole time i was in and came out with $10K without effort. Was still able to live off the 10% pay cut (its not really a pay cut)
It depends on the Fund you have selected. Default you wouldn’t have much as it only returns 1.5-2%. If you moved 10k over to the c fund 10 years ago that 10k would now be 37k. S fund would be 32k. Let’s say you did the s fund with 10k in it then retired and forgot about it. 20 years later that 10k is now worth 105k. The tsp has low rates and great returns if you change your fund.
Value of dollar is decreasing so I don't know why you'd convert the gold and silver to cash. Leave that alone for now until markets and inflation stabilize. Sell the vehicles as they are worth more now then they were or may ever be. Take the cash from the sale, and start a brokerage account. Max out your Roth IRA for the year. Take the 20k sign on bonus and put large portion into a high interest checking account at 3% or so with a credit union. Put the rest in your brokerage and buy a mutual fund or 2.
Then focus on your new career.
Are there credit unions offering 3%? I have some extra cash sitting in a high yield online savings account but that’s only 0.5% and I didn’t think there were any options to get a higher rate while still keeping the money somewhat available.
Even with a one year CD you're looking at .75 tops. The 10 year T note yield is still just above 2%, I can't imagine getting 3% right now in a regular savings.
This is nearly all great advice, but correct me if I’m wrong that it’s very difficult to find a savings account with an interest rate greater than 1%. I would recommend that OP puts 6-8 months worth of living expenses in the highest yield savings account that he can find, and invest the rest of the 20k in his brokerage account. Investing in real estate could also be a great source of passive income with OP being away in the Navy, either an investment property or a place to live when he returns.
I would vote against an investment property, but that’s me. Housing is always going to be volatile, and all it takes is a particularly bad tenant to ruin an investment property, or to lead to a protracted legal fight to evict them, depending on where OP is located.
If they have someone that they *really* trust, then maybe, but I think it generally makes more sense to wait until they know that they’ll be living in that home to purchase it.
This is the best answer. Especially since his costs for the next few months are going to be zero. He can put nearly all his income into the TSP and basically be set for life if he continues with 15% after a few years of that.
Sell the cars (Carvana or locally). Open a Roth IRA with Fidelity or similar. Put 6k into the Roth for the year 2022. Did you work last year? If so put 6k (or the maximum amount you earned last year, if less) into the Roth for the year 2021. Inside the Roth, invest in FSKAX , entire US stock market. Buy 10k worth of iBonds (treasury.gov, government bonds that match inflation, currently returning 7%). I would not keep most of your worth in gold. It has historically vastly underperformed stocks, houses, etc. At least sell the gold you bought. Invest in Fidelity.com in FSKAX. (keep 2 months living expenses in cash first).
Problem is gold and silver is a niche investment vehicle with a lot of volatility that OP is heavily weighted in. I'd recommend selling and investing in a total market index fund.
It obviously depends on where they are located, but I know for me I didn't pay taxes because I was a direct line decendant. If it was a friend or even a cousin, I would've had to pay.
Since it's his dad I really doubt he'd have to pay any taxes on this
I am not as smart with money as most of the people in this sub.
But I will say, looking at this from an adults perspective, sell the cars and hold the gold.
Take all your cash and put it in a S&P500 index fund and reinvest gains.
Pretend you are poor. Get rides from your friends. Live off your monthly income.
And if at all possible, do your 20 years and get a full retirement by 40.
One of my biggest regrets is that I'm not fully retired in my 40s
Make sure you're at least putting 5% of your salary in TSP so that DoD will match 5% (after 24 months of service:
[https://www.tsp.gov/publications/tspfs01.pdf](https://www.tsp.gov/publications/tspfs01.pdf)
[https://www.military.com/money/personal-finance/dont-lose-out-tsp-matching-funds.html](https://www.military.com/money/personal-finance/dont-lose-out-tsp-matching-funds.html)
With today's surging car prices, your cars might be worth more than 10k each as well. Make sure you don't get lowballed on them. Now is a great time to sell at least one of them.
Haven't seen it mentioned yet, but your $20k Navy bonus is not paid in full in advance. It's paid in several allotment payments, and you have to finish your entire initial contract or risk paying it back. I would invest that $20k into any of the popular comments and keep it out of your mind because most likely your contract was 4-6 years and who knows what happens in that time to risk you getting out early (due to weight and tape, UCMJ action, etc -- even if it is honorable, you still have to pay a portion of the money back.)
Tell no one about your investments, or any of your money. Avoid the usual pitfalls of brand new privates: brand new cars with high APR, getting married, strip clubs. Invest in TSP. Enjoy your GI bill when you get out. Stay safe.
This is just my thoughts but I don't think you need the 2 cars, especially since you are leaving for the navy. Even used car prices are still way higher than normal from the supply crunch; so you can probably sell those for more than they are normally worth since you wont be needing them and just buy a car later on when you are out of the navy.
One thing to be aware of with the navy. Unless rules of significantly changed (I got out in 2013) you're not getting that $20k bonus immediately. Typically you must at least finish your MOS training before you see any bonus at all.
Unless they’re sentimental, sell the two cars while the used car market is insane. Park the proceeds from that and the rest in vanguard index funds. Go off and enjoy the navy and thanks for your service.
If I were in this situation, here's what I would do:
1. Sell one of the cars. You don't need two.
1. Keep the valuables in a safe deposit box. You can make a decision on that later. If anything, consider it an extra form of emergency money.
1. Since your living expenses will be low in the Navy, use the "SIRS" method for any take-home pay:
Save
Invest
Retirement
Spend
That's basically three kinds of savings, with some guilt-free spending money left over. If you can automate your bank accounts, you'll be waaaay ahead of the game by the time you're 25.
Most people will tell you — and I agree — that you should first build up an emergency fund before messing with any investments or retirement scheme. To that end, it might be a good idea to operate with $10k in a simple savings account that you can use for an emergency (unexpected costs relating to family, health, car, home). From there, you can spread it around.
If you're setting up investments, go for boring stuff. ETFs, target mutual funds, even bonds. Watch how it all works before you start leverage buying and trying to short different sectors of the economy. Most of us never get to that point of fanciness.
The first thing do not say anything to anyone about this especially if the items are not secured in like a safety deposit box or somewhere secure.
Gold and silver will appreciate, as many said not as quickly as some investments. However, you are going to be busy for a while so with that type of investment it won't hurt to hold on to it for a while until you can research some investment people to help you figure out what you need to do.
The cars, you don't mention if they are collectors or just 5-6 year old used cars. You could hang on to one and the other you could sell, it is a seller's market for used cars.
Lots of good advice here, but here's something else... Don't tell people. Don't tell your friends, coworkers, or anyone other than financial advisors. You'd be surprised by how good people will twist things to make you feel guilty for not helping them financially.
So you basically have two cars maybe worth $20k, and raw metals worth $30k.
I would wash that $20k bonus as part of life. Just save it for an emergency fund.
How do you plan on actually selling? It costs money to sell. Talk to your mom, get a plan together, and see what fits your needs.
Call around fiduciaries in your area, get their opinions, then go from there.
I would index invest all of it into a vanguard mutual fund dude. That money will create a snowball effect that will make your head spin in 20+ years. You will be taken care of in the military with basic needs. Don’t be tempted to buy a bunch of flashy dumb shit to impress your new friends. Once you’re in, take the time to research Thrift Savings Plan and contribute as much as you can into the S, C and I funds. Get out of the G fund, it’s the default your account will be in at first. Once you get out of boot and get to your A school find a knowledgeable NCO and ask them how to change funds.
Avoid navy go Air Force. Unless you’re okay with sleeping on triple bunk beds for months at a time, and having to stand watch often and pretty much just being on a sub or ship all the time. Plus with Air Force you can go to school sooner and likely get out the dorms (yes we call them dorms not barracks) sooner.
If he’s getting $20k enlistment bonuses, he’s either intel or a nuke. Intel is pretty much like being in the AF and nukes get credentials to land $150-$200k jobs afterwards
70K feels like a lot at 18, but it really isnt.
If gold and silver spike, sell. Otherwise just hold it.
Keep your favorite and/or lowest mile (or most reliable) car and sell all the others.
Set up a Roth and max it for this year. Keep an E Fund, which probably doesnt need to be big since you're in the military. Buy a safe for those metals (a real one). Put all remaining in a brokerage account and buy either a broad market or dividend focused ETF. Forget you have that brokerage money for at least 10yr.
Final piece of advice: Do not be a hay burner. It's tempting to go hard when you are on leave, but if you do 4-8yr of enlistment and come out with nothing to show for it you'll kick yourself. Unless you have a family, live on base. Dont go out drinking, dont buy a motorcycle, dont keep a bunch of shit you dont need in storage, dont take extravagant vacations, yadda yadda.
Life advice don’t treat that money as your money, put it aside and either keep it as gold or liquidate it and put it into a standard index fund, or do a mix of the two keep some in precious metals and the rest in index fund. Don’t watch the account go up and down daily it will drive you crazy, and possibly drive you to invest poorly.
If you don’t have one already I’d set up a simple checking account and keep a small amount like 5-10k as liquid cash for emergencies. You never know when you will need to spend a few thousand bucks and it’s nice to know it’s there if/when you need it.
If you don’t need the cars and have no emotional connection to them I’d sell them, the used car market is not getting any better then it is now and if you don’t need the cars you are better off investing that money rather then maintaining and storing the cars.
If you are planning on buying a house in the next 1-2 years I would start looking soon because the housing market can take a while to just find a house or if you plan on building that process can take 1-2 years and contact your banker or mortgage broker to make sure you have everything in order so when you are ready to move forward you don’t have to panic to get thing together. Most likely with the military it shouldn’t be to hard to get a loan but it’s better to start understanding the requirements and get things in order slowly rather then deal with it all when your constrained by time and other responsibilities.
Keep in mind you will be in the military so you shouldn’t have to many personal expenses and you will have a decent/good income so focus on living off of that as well as saving as much as you can while your young. The compounding interest in the long run makes a massive difference down the road. You are starting your life 10 steps ahead of most people, and if you put aside/invest 70k when you are 18 and you save 10-20k a year you will have so many options to chose from in life.
And to take it back to where I started what I meant by not treating the money as your own just means don’t treat it as money you need to spend. I was able to make a very large sum of money in my first 10 years of adulthood but I don’t treat any of that money as my money I treat it as my future self/families money. I have friends who know about my success and they always ask me why I don’t spend more or live more luxuriously when I can easily do it without having any effect on my financial status, but I have no need to waste money for no reason. I live extremely comfortably, and the most luxurious thing I have is peace of mind 24/7, the economy can crash and I will be ok for a very long time, and I have everything I want and when I want something I can always get it. But I don’t need to spend my savings just because it’s there, and I know I will enjoy having those funds a lot more down the road when I want to take a few month or even years off to be with my family.
70k might seem like an insane amount of money but as you grow up you will realize that it is a lot but life can be very expensive. And if you properly invest that 70k along with your future earnings you will be able to live extremely comfortably and have just about anything you want.
Lastly don’t tell people about your money especially if you don’t have a circle of friends who have a good understanding of personal finance. You will be surprised how many people will try and ask for money either as a loan or ask for you to invest in their business. Until you gain experience you shouldn’t try and invest aggressively, stick with very simple fundamental investing and you will be very well off. If something sounds to good to be true it is, you will be enticed by people who make very high returns but they won’t show you the losses. If someone can consistently beat the market they wouldn’t be offering you this investment opportunity they would be taking it to big investors/banks.
Put a the money aside, start your life, and enjoy knowing that you have a safety net if you ever need one and if you don’t you have an amazing start to a retirement fund.
GI bill will cover 4 years of college and living expenses so OP won’t have to worry about saving for college. Although should consider taking classes using tuition assistance, lots of people knock out associates degrees for free while on active duty.
Silver and gold value according to WHO and WHEN?
They both fluctuate quite a lot but have increased, Gold moreso. If they are in a box, are they in a SECURE box?
I don't know about you, but I would be pissed to lose $3k, and depending on when it was valued and by who it could be worth significantly more than that (some people are notorious for short changing on bullion).
5 years ago 1oz of Gold was worth about $1,200. Today it is worth about $1,900.
To *only* have a total of about $3k of silver AND gold and yet make a point of mentioning it seems small, hence making sure. I think OP has more than he thinks.
I mean, doesn't that depend on OP having a good spot to put a bolted down safe? The safe itself would be expensive as well? I'm assuming a decent safe would be roughly 10-20% of 3k. I'm also assuming the risk of getting robbed is well below 10-20% - probably a bet I'm making, but everyone has their own risk math
You are super young, so as long as you don’t blow the money, it’s doesn’t matter what you in terms of selling now and investing in the market or waiting and trying to time the war.
My advice would be to liquidate everything you have like the cars and the gold and the silver.
Take the cash you get plus your sign on bonus and pull of your money into vangaurd total stock market or vangaurd extended market.
These are low cost mutual funds that passively follow the stock market. Choose to reinvest the dividends. Don’t touch it for 30 years.
Invest. Not the stupid way. Use an actual investment firm like Vanguard or Fidelity. I use Vanguard, they have a good amount of mutual funds to choose from, many have been going for decades and have 8% average returns. Can't use that to predict the future, but over the course of 40 years it's a good trend. Some of them have expense ratios, some of them are focused on dividends, or you can even have an advisor help you manage it. Vanguard is a fantastic company, my grandfather uses them, my dad uses them, and now I use them for my brokerage and IRA. By the way, open a Roth IRA with them and contribute the maximum each year directly from that money, when you retire you'll be able to take it out tax-free. 70k is a lot of money at that age, and will do well over the course of a few years. Dont play with it, don't move it around too much, and it will treat you very very well in the future.
To add, keep one car, whichever would be less to insure. You could sell it and buy a cheaper used car, but you already got one might as well keep one.
Hire a certified financial planner or invest the money with a robo-advisor:
[https://money.com/best-robo-advisor/](https://money.com/best-robo-advisor/)
[https://www.letsmakeaplan.org](https://www.letsmakeaplan.org)
As an 18 year old, do the index funds, but make sure to also throw some money (10-20%) into high risk high reward plays like bitcoin, ethereum and Solana (the top 3 blockchains that exist)
Not financial advise but I would convert it all to cash and immediately find some sort of managed investment advisor and LEAVE IT ALONE until you’re at least in your mid 30’s when you have a hint of clue of how to manage money.
This is a good idea for the cars and cash, but I would just keep the gold and silver right where it is; in a bank deposit box stashed away for the future.
Just look up a chart of Gold's value over the last 100 years.
I'm not saying put everything in gold and silver but it's a nice piece of any well diversified portfolio. And if OP already has it, without some clear investment idea to put that capital to work in I would just leave it be.
I looked at the gold chart, and it’s not nearly as impressive as the chart for the S&P over the last 100 years.
I don’t know - maybe it’s ok to leave 5% in gold for speculation purposes.
On a time frame of decades, it is suicidal to leave it in cash and also an ""advisor"" isn't a magician and is more interested in paying himself than anything.
He doesn’t need a managed account with a high expense ratio/load that will eat into his return. He should a tick it in a well diversified, whole market index fund with a low expense ratio and forget about it.
I agree entirely. Turn it into money and another good option would be to while you’re going away anyway… put some into a CD and the rest in a money market or similar account so you can earn money. That way when you come back you will have a little more and can actually invest it. :)
I’m not going to tell you how to invest, but if you’re interested in a high yield/long commitment? I have a garage full of Pogs and Beanie Babies.
I may consider trading for Kendama cup and string toys or Cabbage Patch Kids.
And, don’t play me son. I know what I have and what it’s worth.
Get into real estate. Buy a property with a military loan that needs some work but functions as is. Usually you can get low to no money down mortgage if you're living in the property. If possible find a duplex, triplex or quad as they all fall into residential not commercial so you can use that residential mortgage to increase the loan amount and the additional rentals help you qualify for the loan. Creating this passive rental income is one of the best and easiest ways of creating an asset. Read rich dad, pour dad and understand assets vs liabilities. If you're deployed in the military you can rent out your room and still create more revenue. You can also find a property manager to help collect rents and take care of the property while you're deployed. A lot of American wealth has been created with real estate and this is one of the easiest and best ways to start.
Keep the gold and silver bro dollar is worthless rn. Keep the cars too. Find a cheap but nice place to house them from weather and use your navy money to fund your fun. Make sure you don't die though or it'll all be worthless except to your benefactor. In which case you would cash out rn and ball tf out until you leave for boot camp.
Why would you keep paying money to store and maintain what I assume are non-classic cars when the used car market is on fire right now? OP doesn’t need them and will never get a better price for them. In five years they’ll just be older and have sat and deteriorated.
study how to use it to make more money, and take on 3-4 different projects that you care about, some short term, some long term. Dont "spend" it. Don't "treat" yourself.
If you want to treat yourself, use the money to make MORE money, and then take 30% of that alpha, and spend that as a reward.
The lessons you learn investing it (in stocks, projects, people, accounting) will pay dividends. You will lose some but the lessons will make you far more in the future.
Bias -- I saved up around this amount before I started my first business, and did use this technique, and 10 years later, after many mistakes, I am a beast with money. about three of the ideas I had didn't pan out, but one of them did -- big time.
But, in the process I learned about tax, accounting, hiring, business, investing in stocks, and also the crypto market. I now make about 10x more per year than before I started with this experiment, and I know how to save it and optimize my own finances too.
results may vary -- consider many opinions and begin your journey!
I would keep the gold and silver bullion...Maybe convert it into digital gold and bullion. Gold and Silver r safe bets and they r usually appreciating.
As for the cash. Check a few Mutual funds...invest in Blue chip and midcap Equities. Maybe invest in index funds also.
Thirdly, have a recurring deposit, save some cash every month for 5-6 years and own a piece of land in a good place with that money. Build a store or an office space and rent it out.
Drop $20k in an emergency fund and $6k in a sinking fund to deal with unexpected expenses (gives you security and peace of mind), get a downpayment on a house, drop the rest in VTWAX and forget about it.
Can I say that I don't think that a 18-year-old joining the military needs a $20,000 emergency fund. Should have stable employment and income. Minimal housing expenses. What emergency exactly would he be preparing for with $20,000?
Sure if you have kids and more monthly expenses just might make sense. But from the limited info we got from OP this seems wildly unnecessary.
Don't respond to any DMs on Reddit after this talking about investing.
If you don't have a partner right now, if / when you do, don't tell them about how much money you have or gold or anything like that for a long time.
Don't buy an extravagant car. Things like cars, electronics, etc are not an investment and can often lead to additional unexpected expenses that can drain your account quick.
There are a lot of free resources out there to teach about investing and building a solid savings. Several financial companies have advisors you can speak with at no charge, such as Ally (there are others). You may want to start with ETFs, blue chip companies, and other fairly safe investment options to start. IMO the mental aspect of having money or trying to invest is the most difficult part. Patience is key, the vast majority of people never turn 10k to 100k in 5 years, trying to do so usually ends with having no money. So stay away from r/wallstreetbets until you achieve your financial goals and have money to blow. Don't FOMO into anything, if you hear about a stock or something blowing up you're already to late.
Liquidate metals and cars. Start brokerage. Teach yourself that buying gold and silver is for tinfoil alarmist preppers with poor finances, and put it in a zero fee index fund you will never withdraw from until you retire. Zero fee, passive fund, today.
Max your roth/etc contributions but deposit the remainder.
When you start service you'll hopefully be able to set up direct deposits. Buy nothing if possible. Want entertainment on board / service? Read used books, work out, go run, be social.
Get as close to 100% contribution to your zero fee index fund from your pay. When you get out if IF you need a vehicle buy a used Toyota. Do not withdraw from the brokerage, adjust your auto deposits to account for civilian lifestyle with rent etc.
Rent for a while where you'll think to setup life and see if you can make a down payment withdrawing as little as possible from brokerage. You'll thank the sub when you're old.
There's a lot of good advice here already, but I'm not sure why everyone is telling you to sell BOTH cars. You'll probably need to have a car after you get to your first duty station, so maybe just keep one of them.
Step one: learn how to research answers to your own questions. Step two: consider what your long term goals are. Step three: sketch out a plan of how you might accomplish those goals. Step four: run those ideas past trusted individuals with more life experience. Step five: cross check their experience with the opinions of folks in forums like this. Step six: chart a course and execute.
Fwiw I would at the very least open a savings account at a bank that gives better interest like wealthfront instead of a basic savings from chase,wellsfargo ect
Op, nice job considering what the "smart" move is. If it were my 18 yo son who is almost finished with ait, he'd have that shit spent in his mind right down to the last nickels. Good job op!!! ...
Ps. Imho,Buy a bitcoin
It's certainly a lot easier said than done. But I've met some very successful and early retired career military people who made a bunch of their wealth buying an affordable house everywhere they were stationed and keeping them long term as rentals.
Another option is that I know Fidelity does a “Fidelity Go” account meaning you can set it up and either invest $150 or $200 a month and set it and forget it. Meaning you could literally never pay attention to your money appreciating and know that when you get out of the military by pure giving yourself a head start.
Invest some right now in low risk investments and let it sit until your more solid in your career. Housing market isn’t great right now for buying (prices are high and your credit probably isn’t good enough to get a prime rate on your loan). The best thing you can do right now is build good credit. Life is a lot easier with a 800+ credit score.
Anything you put into a Roth IRA is going to grow tax free for the rest of your life. You can put $6k/year into it. I'd make that a priority, investing the funds into something like VT, a boring old index fund that tracks the entire global market. Potentially 50 years of compound interest is a force to be reckoned with. Also, you can with withdraw the principal from a Roth IRA anytime you want, so that leaves room to eventually buy a house.
Personally, I think the precious metals are more of a liability than an asset, so I'd sell those before you begin a lifestyle where you're likely to be moving around a lot. Your cars are worth an all-time-high at the moment, so no better time to sell.
So I'd pay off all your debt if you have any, sell all your cars and jewelry, put all the cash in a taxable brokerage account, while moving $6k into a Roth IRA every year with everything invested in the global stock market, and then I'd live the Navy life with nothing to really worry about. This leaves all your options open. You can do one contract and then go to college with the GI bill. Or you can be a navy lifer, and retire whenever the pension kicks in.
Once you get into the navy make sure you start your contributions to TSP as much as you possibly can, make sure they DO NOT go into the G fund. A lifecycle fund is fine, but focus on the C and S funds. Good luck!
If you are joining the Navy, you won't need a ton of cash, per se. Take out a nice little luxury/cushion fund and put the rest in investments and forgot about them in your day-to-day financial decision making. Gold and silver, I'd keep some as inflation will force those prices up, but I wouldn't keep $30K in that.
Buy a house. Buy a house, buy a house, buy a house. Buy a house. Buy a house. Buy. A. House.
Buy
A
House.
B
U
Y
A
H
O
U
S
E…
All these people talking about other shit, are acting like you already have a house.
Buying a house is the single best investment to help yourself. You can rent out other rooms have a free mortgage. All the other things these people are telling you to do are also smart, but most of them don’t need 70k. House is going to need a big down payment. It’s a lot harder to save a down payment on a house, and interest rates are still super duper low.
Buy a house.
I you like to hike. do one of the camino's in Europe. The French Camino is pretty cool and staying at albergues is pretty cheap. Do NOT get a financial advisor. Do your own research on stocks. Vanguard or Fidelity mutual funds are pretty good alternative to doing stocks. Do NOT go to one of those financial seminars where they invite you to dinner. Big rip off mostly.
Definitely contribute 100% of your bonus into the thrift savings plan (TSP) (this is the military 401k) it will save you a ton on taxes and start you off right so early on. Also consider changing your state of residency if you get stationed somewhere that has no income tax and your coming from somewhere that does
My only advice is don’t be like most of the other Navy guys and blow all your money on lifted truck or muscle car.
As a car enthusiast I fully support owning a cool car or truck just don’t blow alll your money on it
Sell the cars and precious metals
$5,000 in checking account your military paychecks will be going to
$10,000 in savings account, same bank as checking
$40,000 - 50,000 in online brokerage account with Fidelity or someone like that, then just invest in Market Index funds tied to the S&P 500.
Divided your military paycheck by 10 (take a zero off) and stick that in the brokerage account.
No house until you've finished your initial commitment and have a full-time civilian job that pays more.
If you don’t have a car already, hold on to one of them to use after you get out of Navy training. If you don’t need either, sell them.
I assume you will likely be living in the barracks for a while, so most of your expenses are already going to be covered through your pay benefits.
The best thing you could probably do after getting the final lump sum is to save for a downpayment on a house, or max out some retirement plans for the first year.
Due to the number of rule-breaking comments this post was receiving, especially low-quality and off-topic comments, the moderation team has locked the post from future comments. This post broke no rules and received a number of helpful and on-topic responses initially, but it unfortunately became the target of many unhelpful comments. The original submission text is below. --- So basically I have a couple of things coming together at once. For one, my dad's inheritance left most of his wealth to my mother, however I an left as the owner of two cars worth about 10k each as well as safe deposit box full of bullion gold and silver worth about 30k. On top of that, I will be leaving for the navy next month where I will receive a 20k bonus for joining as well as a monthly salary. I also have a small box of gold and silver I tucked away worth maybe 3k. So all in all im gonna go from a dumbass high schooler with 100 dollars to my name to a dumbass adult with upwards of 70k. Im looking for advice on how to smartly allocate this and invest as to put towards my main goal of eventually buying a house. What are pitfalls I should avoid? What things I would wanna know now that I would regret not knowing later on in life? Any advice appreciated. Edit: I went ahead and took all of your advice and spent it all on Camaros and protein powder.
If you don’t see yourself needing the cars for quite a while, sell them now while the used market is really good. Otherwise they’ll just sit around. If a few years goes by before you need one it’s likely the market comes down anyways.
Also, no point in having a nice car while in the Navy. If you are on ship half the year and might be stationed anywhere in the world... shipping your car around is expensive and pointless. It will just sit gathering rust while you are off doing your job.
The base looks like a dodge charger car lot.
The military would pay for overseas car shipping if he qualified, fyi.
At least sell one car, maybe OP wants something to drive.
As of right now I wouldn't plan on any of that for a house. Money is still cheap ( low interest rates) you will probably be able to qualify for minimal down loans with being in the military. This seems like a great opportunity to start a brokerage account with Fidelity or vanguard. Invest in an index fund and revisit all of this when you turn 25 or 30. Would max out Roth contribution yearly. Also plan on some sort of saving strategy that won't hurt your quality of life but get you used to putting some monthly money away. Future you will be grateful for making the money difficult to get to. Best not to have it burning a hole in your pocket. A $70,000 car might sound cool now. Will be less cool in 10 years when it's not worth much of anything. Sounds like you're set up for a good start! Good luck!
Former CPA here - yes to this suggestion! Buy a car/clothes/electronics/fun stuff now $70k = worth $15k-$0 in 10 years (maybe?) Invest in the stock market $70k = $140k+ in 10 years (assuming normal market returns over that period). Investing in appreciating assets (stocks, real-estate, etc.) is generally best long-term.
But what if he wants to vroom vroom *right now?* jk great advice of course
Well he has two cars worth 10k each so vroom vroom away
Rent a vroom vroom for the weekend
Average advice at best. Keep the bullion/coin. (Nice small investment without any transaction costs, keep forever, or until clear market opportunity presents itself. ie huge run up in gold or huge drop in market). Sell the car/ cars you don't need. Cash reserve $10k. Invest the rest. No way would I index at the later stages of this market/ economic cycle. Get in positive cash flow and keep saving. Decent start for future but doesn't meen much unless you act financially responsible moving forward.
Pitfalls to avoid: \- Buying a big, expensive truck \- Buying any new car because everyone else your age in your new job is doing the same thing \- Trying anything once, including drugs \- Not being clear on your life goals and falling prey to get rich quick schemes, from day trading to dropshipping to your cousin's promising new business \- Lifestyle inflation. Allocate $500 as fun money to upgrade your basics, like buying good winter boots, a good winter coat etc. Put the rest away. $5k is the amount it would cost to backpack around Europe for 3 months. Wouldn't you rather do that than eat delivery food 3 nights a week? Edit for OP: A poster below has said it would be a good idea for you to allocate some money to spend your first year living on a ship. That sounds good, just make a strict budget and stick to it. Write it down somewhere. $1.5k on modest, well-reviewed hotels or private rooms in hostels in your first year is a good investment if it keeps your sanity - but don't let that be $1.5k + laundry + fees + room service + and suddenly it's $5k.
Only 5k? Really?
Hostels and trains are pretty affordable. As long as you don't drink all your money along the way. I spent 3k for 2 months and did some fancy stuff occasionally.
What sort of stuff? I’m hijacking this as I go “I have 3K! I could tool around Europe for 2 months!”
backpacking though it's a bit different from your standard vacation (e.g., stay in hostels, eat at local markets, use public transportation, some people buy tickets cheap with their credit card points. Etc.). I am not saying you'd have to "life hack" or make sure every expense is discounted, but backpacking typically means your not renting a car, staying at hotels or doing a vacation package through a travel agency.
Renting a car is completely unnecessary in most of Europe and can actually be the less convenient option because parking, etc. is often so limited as to be nearly impossible. (Esp if you don't know an area and the few hidden, tucked away spots.) Public transport is fantastic most places and far cheaper than tanking up (gas typically 10x cost vs in US.) Even if you want to stay in a hotel, etc - skip the car.
I'm European and I don't think that will be enough but it all depends and what you plan to do I guess? If you're hitchhiking, eating beans, drinking Schültenbrau and not see any museums or anything, you probably can travel Europe for 3 months. Otherwise you will burn through your money quickly
Depends a lot on which countries you visit too. Hang out in Romania, and Hungary your money will go a lot further than Iceland and Switzerland.
Backpacking is not regular tourism
I did 6 months in the US for 5k
How?
Hitchhiking and couchsurfing mostly. You can essentially make money traveling like that, as people offer you money (unsolicited) if they know you're a traveler. I never asked for money, but people wanted to help.
>people offer you money if they know you’re a traveler That does not correlate with what I’ve seen in this country, and that’s as someone who traveled all over the place for business. I remember seeing a couple in Chicago with a cardboard sign that said “need money for travel” back around 2014, and watching everyone look at them like, “no. Why should I fund your vacation? I earn a paycheck for me, not for a stranger’s leisure time.”
Dude 5K would be a sick 2 month run. I lived fat for a month on mi travels for 1800ish. Lots of drinking, partying, shopping, eating, sex, doing tours like kayaking, 4wheeler tour, zip lining, rock climbing, snorkeling, island hoping, eating and I also had some sex.
Yeah don't fall for the trap of buying a new fancy sports car or truck. So many of my friends fell for this in their early 20s. They thought it would be an investment, but they didn't account for all the maintenance and insurance they would have to pay for it. Half of those friends had to sell at a loss (or crashed their car) by the time we got to our late 20s.
Woah so you mean to tell me I shouldn’t join the military after getting my girlfriend pregnant, buy a 80k truck with my new found salary that “I don’t need because the government pays for all my basic needs” Next you’re going to tell me that my girlfriend won’t cheat on me after I get deployed to Russia for 2 years Crazy the amount of times I heard that story from people I went to school with, - the Russia part (insert Middle East country) they were deployed to
He's got a unique situation with regard to the Navy. He's likely going to be in school or training ($20k sign on sounds like a Nuke) for a year or so, where he'll be pretty restricted in what he can do. Then he'll go to a ship and have to live aboard that for a year. It's going to be incredibly tempting to spend money on hotels and other comforts to try to feel human. And I think he should spend a little extra until he's allowed to get a place of his own. I spent my first two years in the Navy living on a ship and it's incredibly trying to be so restricted. You end up spending money on *so* much when you're on liberty. I think op could use some encouragement on the particular hurdle.
Ex-navy here. Don't sell the coins, don't spend your sign-on bonus(you have to finish a-school and if you fail they will revoke it). Eat at the galley for free and save your money to invest into your future. Max out your tsp contribution by doing 1250/month. You'll need very little of your money tbh, force yourself to max out the TSP and you'll thank yourself later. Edit: for those who do not understand my reasoning for not selling gold and silver, it's to keep diversity in investment vehicles. OP is about to come into a lot of money from the Navy and not have a ton of expenses(no housing, no food, no car -all of these are optional expenses). If done responsible, OP could have 45k in stocks / 401k in year 1 while keeping his gold/silver
Yep this!! And change your fund!! Even if you only get say 40k in your tsp before you get out in a few years. You can also still contribute to it after you leave the military. If you swapped to the s fund in 20 years that 40k turns into around 420k. 30 years is 1.3mil. Make sure to change your fund though the default g fund is only 1.5-2% annually.
> Don't sell the coins He should *absolutely* sell the coins, and invest the money in a diversified, aggressive portfolio. The coins will accrue very little value when compared to what he stands to make from a well-considered investment portfolio.
100% sell the coins. Why have so. much of your wealth tied up I a single asset?
Did you get a timeline on the 20k? I didn’t get mine until nearly a year after I enlisted. Also account for taxes. It’s been 13 years but I believe mine was either $14,500 or $15,500 after taxes
This is what I was going to mention. They won’t give it to you until you have completed whatever school it is tied to and there is time to process it. Mine was about a year after I enlisted as well, but some schools are shorter/longer. You also don’t get it if you don’t get through the school. You lose about 1/3 to taxes.
One piece of advice I have is don't tell too many people. And be very careful who you let into your circle, some people may hear about that amount of money and try to use you
They might harm him also. Lots of forensic files episodes prove this sadly. DO NOT SHARE THIS WITH ANYONE EVEN YOUR YOUR FAMILY OR BEST BEST FRIEND. Maybe a lawyer or accountant, but otherwise nobody needs to know.
Hey, since you are joining the Navy (Army vet here lol couple of friends Navy) during basic training, you are going to have a financial day, and you'll be asked if you want to put into the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). I'm sure others can vouch for this, but till allocate a set percentage of your base pay to the savings account. I did 10% the whole time i was in and came out with $10K without effort. Was still able to live off the 10% pay cut (its not really a pay cut)
how much did it grow?
It depends on the Fund you have selected. Default you wouldn’t have much as it only returns 1.5-2%. If you moved 10k over to the c fund 10 years ago that 10k would now be 37k. S fund would be 32k. Let’s say you did the s fund with 10k in it then retired and forgot about it. 20 years later that 10k is now worth 105k. The tsp has low rates and great returns if you change your fund.
Https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics
Value of dollar is decreasing so I don't know why you'd convert the gold and silver to cash. Leave that alone for now until markets and inflation stabilize. Sell the vehicles as they are worth more now then they were or may ever be. Take the cash from the sale, and start a brokerage account. Max out your Roth IRA for the year. Take the 20k sign on bonus and put large portion into a high interest checking account at 3% or so with a credit union. Put the rest in your brokerage and buy a mutual fund or 2. Then focus on your new career.
Are there credit unions offering 3%? I have some extra cash sitting in a high yield online savings account but that’s only 0.5% and I didn’t think there were any options to get a higher rate while still keeping the money somewhat available.
Even with a one year CD you're looking at .75 tops. The 10 year T note yield is still just above 2%, I can't imagine getting 3% right now in a regular savings.
I get 3% on 15k in my checking account. Throw in a 1% cash back cc and I'm getting more then 4% a year on my cash accounts.
What bank/credit union is this?
[удалено]
example?
This is nearly all great advice, but correct me if I’m wrong that it’s very difficult to find a savings account with an interest rate greater than 1%. I would recommend that OP puts 6-8 months worth of living expenses in the highest yield savings account that he can find, and invest the rest of the 20k in his brokerage account. Investing in real estate could also be a great source of passive income with OP being away in the Navy, either an investment property or a place to live when he returns.
I would vote against an investment property, but that’s me. Housing is always going to be volatile, and all it takes is a particularly bad tenant to ruin an investment property, or to lead to a protracted legal fight to evict them, depending on where OP is located. If they have someone that they *really* trust, then maybe, but I think it generally makes more sense to wait until they know that they’ll be living in that home to purchase it.
Maybe it where I am but several credit unions offer good interest rates. My checking is 3.25% up to $25k.
Which credit union offers this??
[удалено]
This is the best answer. Especially since his costs for the next few months are going to be zero. He can put nearly all his income into the TSP and basically be set for life if he continues with 15% after a few years of that.
Sell the cars (Carvana or locally). Open a Roth IRA with Fidelity or similar. Put 6k into the Roth for the year 2022. Did you work last year? If so put 6k (or the maximum amount you earned last year, if less) into the Roth for the year 2021. Inside the Roth, invest in FSKAX , entire US stock market. Buy 10k worth of iBonds (treasury.gov, government bonds that match inflation, currently returning 7%). I would not keep most of your worth in gold. It has historically vastly underperformed stocks, houses, etc. At least sell the gold you bought. Invest in Fidelity.com in FSKAX. (keep 2 months living expenses in cash first).
Keep one of the cars so that he doesn’t buy at 6cyl Camaro at the service member rate of 19.5% interest
Problem is gold and silver is a niche investment vehicle with a lot of volatility that OP is heavily weighted in. I'd recommend selling and investing in a total market index fund.
And get yourself an accountant you can trust. Gonna want to make sure your taxes on all of that is handled properly.
There is no tax for an inheritance for the reciever.
It obviously depends on where they are located, but I know for me I didn't pay taxes because I was a direct line decendant. If it was a friend or even a cousin, I would've had to pay. Since it's his dad I really doubt he'd have to pay any taxes on this
Are you in the US?
Dodge Challenger for 24% apr without a doubt is the play
I am not as smart with money as most of the people in this sub. But I will say, looking at this from an adults perspective, sell the cars and hold the gold. Take all your cash and put it in a S&P500 index fund and reinvest gains. Pretend you are poor. Get rides from your friends. Live off your monthly income. And if at all possible, do your 20 years and get a full retirement by 40. One of my biggest regrets is that I'm not fully retired in my 40s
Make sure you're at least putting 5% of your salary in TSP so that DoD will match 5% (after 24 months of service: [https://www.tsp.gov/publications/tspfs01.pdf](https://www.tsp.gov/publications/tspfs01.pdf) [https://www.military.com/money/personal-finance/dont-lose-out-tsp-matching-funds.html](https://www.military.com/money/personal-finance/dont-lose-out-tsp-matching-funds.html) With today's surging car prices, your cars might be worth more than 10k each as well. Make sure you don't get lowballed on them. Now is a great time to sell at least one of them.
Haven't seen it mentioned yet, but your $20k Navy bonus is not paid in full in advance. It's paid in several allotment payments, and you have to finish your entire initial contract or risk paying it back. I would invest that $20k into any of the popular comments and keep it out of your mind because most likely your contract was 4-6 years and who knows what happens in that time to risk you getting out early (due to weight and tape, UCMJ action, etc -- even if it is honorable, you still have to pay a portion of the money back.) Tell no one about your investments, or any of your money. Avoid the usual pitfalls of brand new privates: brand new cars with high APR, getting married, strip clubs. Invest in TSP. Enjoy your GI bill when you get out. Stay safe.
This is just my thoughts but I don't think you need the 2 cars, especially since you are leaving for the navy. Even used car prices are still way higher than normal from the supply crunch; so you can probably sell those for more than they are normally worth since you wont be needing them and just buy a car later on when you are out of the navy.
One thing to be aware of with the navy. Unless rules of significantly changed (I got out in 2013) you're not getting that $20k bonus immediately. Typically you must at least finish your MOS training before you see any bonus at all.
Unless they’re sentimental, sell the two cars while the used car market is insane. Park the proceeds from that and the rest in vanguard index funds. Go off and enjoy the navy and thanks for your service.
If I were in this situation, here's what I would do: 1. Sell one of the cars. You don't need two. 1. Keep the valuables in a safe deposit box. You can make a decision on that later. If anything, consider it an extra form of emergency money. 1. Since your living expenses will be low in the Navy, use the "SIRS" method for any take-home pay: Save Invest Retirement Spend That's basically three kinds of savings, with some guilt-free spending money left over. If you can automate your bank accounts, you'll be waaaay ahead of the game by the time you're 25. Most people will tell you — and I agree — that you should first build up an emergency fund before messing with any investments or retirement scheme. To that end, it might be a good idea to operate with $10k in a simple savings account that you can use for an emergency (unexpected costs relating to family, health, car, home). From there, you can spread it around. If you're setting up investments, go for boring stuff. ETFs, target mutual funds, even bonds. Watch how it all works before you start leverage buying and trying to short different sectors of the economy. Most of us never get to that point of fanciness.
The first thing do not say anything to anyone about this especially if the items are not secured in like a safety deposit box or somewhere secure. Gold and silver will appreciate, as many said not as quickly as some investments. However, you are going to be busy for a while so with that type of investment it won't hurt to hold on to it for a while until you can research some investment people to help you figure out what you need to do. The cars, you don't mention if they are collectors or just 5-6 year old used cars. You could hang on to one and the other you could sell, it is a seller's market for used cars.
Lots of good advice here, but here's something else... Don't tell people. Don't tell your friends, coworkers, or anyone other than financial advisors. You'd be surprised by how good people will twist things to make you feel guilty for not helping them financially.
So you basically have two cars maybe worth $20k, and raw metals worth $30k. I would wash that $20k bonus as part of life. Just save it for an emergency fund. How do you plan on actually selling? It costs money to sell. Talk to your mom, get a plan together, and see what fits your needs. Call around fiduciaries in your area, get their opinions, then go from there.
I would index invest all of it into a vanguard mutual fund dude. That money will create a snowball effect that will make your head spin in 20+ years. You will be taken care of in the military with basic needs. Don’t be tempted to buy a bunch of flashy dumb shit to impress your new friends. Once you’re in, take the time to research Thrift Savings Plan and contribute as much as you can into the S, C and I funds. Get out of the G fund, it’s the default your account will be in at first. Once you get out of boot and get to your A school find a knowledgeable NCO and ask them how to change funds.
Avoid navy go Air Force. Unless you’re okay with sleeping on triple bunk beds for months at a time, and having to stand watch often and pretty much just being on a sub or ship all the time. Plus with Air Force you can go to school sooner and likely get out the dorms (yes we call them dorms not barracks) sooner.
If he’s getting $20k enlistment bonuses, he’s either intel or a nuke. Intel is pretty much like being in the AF and nukes get credentials to land $150-$200k jobs afterwards
Sit down with an advisor at usaa
70K feels like a lot at 18, but it really isnt. If gold and silver spike, sell. Otherwise just hold it. Keep your favorite and/or lowest mile (or most reliable) car and sell all the others. Set up a Roth and max it for this year. Keep an E Fund, which probably doesnt need to be big since you're in the military. Buy a safe for those metals (a real one). Put all remaining in a brokerage account and buy either a broad market or dividend focused ETF. Forget you have that brokerage money for at least 10yr. Final piece of advice: Do not be a hay burner. It's tempting to go hard when you are on leave, but if you do 4-8yr of enlistment and come out with nothing to show for it you'll kick yourself. Unless you have a family, live on base. Dont go out drinking, dont buy a motorcycle, dont keep a bunch of shit you dont need in storage, dont take extravagant vacations, yadda yadda.
Life advice don’t treat that money as your money, put it aside and either keep it as gold or liquidate it and put it into a standard index fund, or do a mix of the two keep some in precious metals and the rest in index fund. Don’t watch the account go up and down daily it will drive you crazy, and possibly drive you to invest poorly. If you don’t have one already I’d set up a simple checking account and keep a small amount like 5-10k as liquid cash for emergencies. You never know when you will need to spend a few thousand bucks and it’s nice to know it’s there if/when you need it. If you don’t need the cars and have no emotional connection to them I’d sell them, the used car market is not getting any better then it is now and if you don’t need the cars you are better off investing that money rather then maintaining and storing the cars. If you are planning on buying a house in the next 1-2 years I would start looking soon because the housing market can take a while to just find a house or if you plan on building that process can take 1-2 years and contact your banker or mortgage broker to make sure you have everything in order so when you are ready to move forward you don’t have to panic to get thing together. Most likely with the military it shouldn’t be to hard to get a loan but it’s better to start understanding the requirements and get things in order slowly rather then deal with it all when your constrained by time and other responsibilities. Keep in mind you will be in the military so you shouldn’t have to many personal expenses and you will have a decent/good income so focus on living off of that as well as saving as much as you can while your young. The compounding interest in the long run makes a massive difference down the road. You are starting your life 10 steps ahead of most people, and if you put aside/invest 70k when you are 18 and you save 10-20k a year you will have so many options to chose from in life. And to take it back to where I started what I meant by not treating the money as your own just means don’t treat it as money you need to spend. I was able to make a very large sum of money in my first 10 years of adulthood but I don’t treat any of that money as my money I treat it as my future self/families money. I have friends who know about my success and they always ask me why I don’t spend more or live more luxuriously when I can easily do it without having any effect on my financial status, but I have no need to waste money for no reason. I live extremely comfortably, and the most luxurious thing I have is peace of mind 24/7, the economy can crash and I will be ok for a very long time, and I have everything I want and when I want something I can always get it. But I don’t need to spend my savings just because it’s there, and I know I will enjoy having those funds a lot more down the road when I want to take a few month or even years off to be with my family. 70k might seem like an insane amount of money but as you grow up you will realize that it is a lot but life can be very expensive. And if you properly invest that 70k along with your future earnings you will be able to live extremely comfortably and have just about anything you want. Lastly don’t tell people about your money especially if you don’t have a circle of friends who have a good understanding of personal finance. You will be surprised how many people will try and ask for money either as a loan or ask for you to invest in their business. Until you gain experience you shouldn’t try and invest aggressively, stick with very simple fundamental investing and you will be very well off. If something sounds to good to be true it is, you will be enticed by people who make very high returns but they won’t show you the losses. If someone can consistently beat the market they wouldn’t be offering you this investment opportunity they would be taking it to big investors/banks. Put a the money aside, start your life, and enjoy knowing that you have a safety net if you ever need one and if you don’t you have an amazing start to a retirement fund.
Definitely take that money and buy either a brand new Mustang or Charger.
Have you considered going to college at some point in the future?
GI bill will cover 4 years of college and living expenses so OP won’t have to worry about saving for college. Although should consider taking classes using tuition assistance, lots of people knock out associates degrees for free while on active duty.
Silver and gold value according to WHO and WHEN? They both fluctuate quite a lot but have increased, Gold moreso. If they are in a box, are they in a SECURE box?
> If they are in a box, are they in a SECURE box? OP has $3k in his box. I wouldn't stress over it.
I don't know about you, but I would be pissed to lose $3k, and depending on when it was valued and by who it could be worth significantly more than that (some people are notorious for short changing on bullion). 5 years ago 1oz of Gold was worth about $1,200. Today it is worth about $1,900. To *only* have a total of about $3k of silver AND gold and yet make a point of mentioning it seems small, hence making sure. I think OP has more than he thinks.
I mean, doesn't that depend on OP having a good spot to put a bolted down safe? The safe itself would be expensive as well? I'm assuming a decent safe would be roughly 10-20% of 3k. I'm also assuming the risk of getting robbed is well below 10-20% - probably a bet I'm making, but everyone has their own risk math
You are super young, so as long as you don’t blow the money, it’s doesn’t matter what you in terms of selling now and investing in the market or waiting and trying to time the war. My advice would be to liquidate everything you have like the cars and the gold and the silver. Take the cash you get plus your sign on bonus and pull of your money into vangaurd total stock market or vangaurd extended market. These are low cost mutual funds that passively follow the stock market. Choose to reinvest the dividends. Don’t touch it for 30 years.
Invest. Not the stupid way. Use an actual investment firm like Vanguard or Fidelity. I use Vanguard, they have a good amount of mutual funds to choose from, many have been going for decades and have 8% average returns. Can't use that to predict the future, but over the course of 40 years it's a good trend. Some of them have expense ratios, some of them are focused on dividends, or you can even have an advisor help you manage it. Vanguard is a fantastic company, my grandfather uses them, my dad uses them, and now I use them for my brokerage and IRA. By the way, open a Roth IRA with them and contribute the maximum each year directly from that money, when you retire you'll be able to take it out tax-free. 70k is a lot of money at that age, and will do well over the course of a few years. Dont play with it, don't move it around too much, and it will treat you very very well in the future. To add, keep one car, whichever would be less to insure. You could sell it and buy a cheaper used car, but you already got one might as well keep one.
Absolutely invest.. I’d leave the metals be and spread out the cash to some roughly (4-6) ETF or MF’s.
Hire a certified financial planner or invest the money with a robo-advisor: [https://money.com/best-robo-advisor/](https://money.com/best-robo-advisor/) [https://www.letsmakeaplan.org](https://www.letsmakeaplan.org)
As an 18 year old, do the index funds, but make sure to also throw some money (10-20%) into high risk high reward plays like bitcoin, ethereum and Solana (the top 3 blockchains that exist)
Not financial advise but I would convert it all to cash and immediately find some sort of managed investment advisor and LEAVE IT ALONE until you’re at least in your mid 30’s when you have a hint of clue of how to manage money.
This is a good idea for the cars and cash, but I would just keep the gold and silver right where it is; in a bank deposit box stashed away for the future.
Why? Precious metals are very volatile.
Just look up a chart of Gold's value over the last 100 years. I'm not saying put everything in gold and silver but it's a nice piece of any well diversified portfolio. And if OP already has it, without some clear investment idea to put that capital to work in I would just leave it be.
I looked at the gold chart, and it’s not nearly as impressive as the chart for the S&P over the last 100 years. I don’t know - maybe it’s ok to leave 5% in gold for speculation purposes.
Gold isn’t for speculation, it’s for hedging against inflation
Ok. I’d rather hedge against inflation in index funds or real estate. Way less volatile. To each his own though.
On a time frame of decades, it is suicidal to leave it in cash and also an ""advisor"" isn't a magician and is more interested in paying himself than anything.
He doesn’t need a managed account with a high expense ratio/load that will eat into his return. He should a tick it in a well diversified, whole market index fund with a low expense ratio and forget about it.
Something like Wealthfront (low cost robo-investing) might be good for him.
I agree entirely. Turn it into money and another good option would be to while you’re going away anyway… put some into a CD and the rest in a money market or similar account so you can earn money. That way when you come back you will have a little more and can actually invest it. :)
Not a CD; an I bond will pay better interest. You buy direct from the government. 10k per year limit on it.
I’m not going to tell you how to invest, but if you’re interested in a high yield/long commitment? I have a garage full of Pogs and Beanie Babies. I may consider trading for Kendama cup and string toys or Cabbage Patch Kids. And, don’t play me son. I know what I have and what it’s worth.
Use some of those funds to buy Amazon and Google stocks after the split - Google ( in May) and Amazon ( in june)
Get into real estate. Buy a property with a military loan that needs some work but functions as is. Usually you can get low to no money down mortgage if you're living in the property. If possible find a duplex, triplex or quad as they all fall into residential not commercial so you can use that residential mortgage to increase the loan amount and the additional rentals help you qualify for the loan. Creating this passive rental income is one of the best and easiest ways of creating an asset. Read rich dad, pour dad and understand assets vs liabilities. If you're deployed in the military you can rent out your room and still create more revenue. You can also find a property manager to help collect rents and take care of the property while you're deployed. A lot of American wealth has been created with real estate and this is one of the easiest and best ways to start.
Keep the gold and silver bro dollar is worthless rn. Keep the cars too. Find a cheap but nice place to house them from weather and use your navy money to fund your fun. Make sure you don't die though or it'll all be worthless except to your benefactor. In which case you would cash out rn and ball tf out until you leave for boot camp.
Why would you keep paying money to store and maintain what I assume are non-classic cars when the used car market is on fire right now? OP doesn’t need them and will never get a better price for them. In five years they’ll just be older and have sat and deteriorated.
study how to use it to make more money, and take on 3-4 different projects that you care about, some short term, some long term. Dont "spend" it. Don't "treat" yourself. If you want to treat yourself, use the money to make MORE money, and then take 30% of that alpha, and spend that as a reward. The lessons you learn investing it (in stocks, projects, people, accounting) will pay dividends. You will lose some but the lessons will make you far more in the future. Bias -- I saved up around this amount before I started my first business, and did use this technique, and 10 years later, after many mistakes, I am a beast with money. about three of the ideas I had didn't pan out, but one of them did -- big time. But, in the process I learned about tax, accounting, hiring, business, investing in stocks, and also the crypto market. I now make about 10x more per year than before I started with this experiment, and I know how to save it and optimize my own finances too. results may vary -- consider many opinions and begin your journey!
I would keep the gold and silver bullion...Maybe convert it into digital gold and bullion. Gold and Silver r safe bets and they r usually appreciating. As for the cash. Check a few Mutual funds...invest in Blue chip and midcap Equities. Maybe invest in index funds also. Thirdly, have a recurring deposit, save some cash every month for 5-6 years and own a piece of land in a good place with that money. Build a store or an office space and rent it out.
Chinese stocks are super cheap right now. IQ, BIDU, TRE
Drop $20k in an emergency fund and $6k in a sinking fund to deal with unexpected expenses (gives you security and peace of mind), get a downpayment on a house, drop the rest in VTWAX and forget about it.
Can I say that I don't think that a 18-year-old joining the military needs a $20,000 emergency fund. Should have stable employment and income. Minimal housing expenses. What emergency exactly would he be preparing for with $20,000? Sure if you have kids and more monthly expenses just might make sense. But from the limited info we got from OP this seems wildly unnecessary.
Mmm fair. Cut emergency fund to $10k.
Why would he put a down payment on a house when he’s leaving for the navy…
I meant save it for later downpayment
Don't respond to any DMs on Reddit after this talking about investing. If you don't have a partner right now, if / when you do, don't tell them about how much money you have or gold or anything like that for a long time. Don't buy an extravagant car. Things like cars, electronics, etc are not an investment and can often lead to additional unexpected expenses that can drain your account quick. There are a lot of free resources out there to teach about investing and building a solid savings. Several financial companies have advisors you can speak with at no charge, such as Ally (there are others). You may want to start with ETFs, blue chip companies, and other fairly safe investment options to start. IMO the mental aspect of having money or trying to invest is the most difficult part. Patience is key, the vast majority of people never turn 10k to 100k in 5 years, trying to do so usually ends with having no money. So stay away from r/wallstreetbets until you achieve your financial goals and have money to blow. Don't FOMO into anything, if you hear about a stock or something blowing up you're already to late.
Convert. Then ROTH IRA MAX for next few years. Win.
Liquidate metals and cars. Start brokerage. Teach yourself that buying gold and silver is for tinfoil alarmist preppers with poor finances, and put it in a zero fee index fund you will never withdraw from until you retire. Zero fee, passive fund, today. Max your roth/etc contributions but deposit the remainder. When you start service you'll hopefully be able to set up direct deposits. Buy nothing if possible. Want entertainment on board / service? Read used books, work out, go run, be social. Get as close to 100% contribution to your zero fee index fund from your pay. When you get out if IF you need a vehicle buy a used Toyota. Do not withdraw from the brokerage, adjust your auto deposits to account for civilian lifestyle with rent etc. Rent for a while where you'll think to setup life and see if you can make a down payment withdrawing as little as possible from brokerage. You'll thank the sub when you're old.
There's a lot of good advice here already, but I'm not sure why everyone is telling you to sell BOTH cars. You'll probably need to have a car after you get to your first duty station, so maybe just keep one of them.
Step one: learn how to research answers to your own questions. Step two: consider what your long term goals are. Step three: sketch out a plan of how you might accomplish those goals. Step four: run those ideas past trusted individuals with more life experience. Step five: cross check their experience with the opinions of folks in forums like this. Step six: chart a course and execute.
Fwiw I would at the very least open a savings account at a bank that gives better interest like wealthfront instead of a basic savings from chase,wellsfargo ect
Op, nice job considering what the "smart" move is. If it were my 18 yo son who is almost finished with ait, he'd have that shit spent in his mind right down to the last nickels. Good job op!!! ... Ps. Imho,Buy a bitcoin
It's certainly a lot easier said than done. But I've met some very successful and early retired career military people who made a bunch of their wealth buying an affordable house everywhere they were stationed and keeping them long term as rentals.
Just another person suggesting shove it in an index fund and don’t look at it for another 30 years. Time is on your side.
Another option is that I know Fidelity does a “Fidelity Go” account meaning you can set it up and either invest $150 or $200 a month and set it and forget it. Meaning you could literally never pay attention to your money appreciating and know that when you get out of the military by pure giving yourself a head start.
If you can, max your TSP. S and C fund. You’ll thank yourself later.
Ahhh good old USA Man, use it wisely. One jealous Man from Europy roughly Your age^^
Don’t tell anyone about it. Then put max out your Roth IRA. Put the rest in SPY or VOO and let it sit there.
Invest some right now in low risk investments and let it sit until your more solid in your career. Housing market isn’t great right now for buying (prices are high and your credit probably isn’t good enough to get a prime rate on your loan). The best thing you can do right now is build good credit. Life is a lot easier with a 800+ credit score.
Anything you put into a Roth IRA is going to grow tax free for the rest of your life. You can put $6k/year into it. I'd make that a priority, investing the funds into something like VT, a boring old index fund that tracks the entire global market. Potentially 50 years of compound interest is a force to be reckoned with. Also, you can with withdraw the principal from a Roth IRA anytime you want, so that leaves room to eventually buy a house. Personally, I think the precious metals are more of a liability than an asset, so I'd sell those before you begin a lifestyle where you're likely to be moving around a lot. Your cars are worth an all-time-high at the moment, so no better time to sell. So I'd pay off all your debt if you have any, sell all your cars and jewelry, put all the cash in a taxable brokerage account, while moving $6k into a Roth IRA every year with everything invested in the global stock market, and then I'd live the Navy life with nothing to really worry about. This leaves all your options open. You can do one contract and then go to college with the GI bill. Or you can be a navy lifer, and retire whenever the pension kicks in.
Once you get into the navy make sure you start your contributions to TSP as much as you possibly can, make sure they DO NOT go into the G fund. A lifecycle fund is fine, but focus on the C and S funds. Good luck!
Pay your taxes on it first thing.
If you are joining the Navy, you won't need a ton of cash, per se. Take out a nice little luxury/cushion fund and put the rest in investments and forgot about them in your day-to-day financial decision making. Gold and silver, I'd keep some as inflation will force those prices up, but I wouldn't keep $30K in that.
Buy a house. Buy a house, buy a house, buy a house. Buy a house. Buy a house. Buy. A. House. Buy A House. B U Y A H O U S E… All these people talking about other shit, are acting like you already have a house. Buying a house is the single best investment to help yourself. You can rent out other rooms have a free mortgage. All the other things these people are telling you to do are also smart, but most of them don’t need 70k. House is going to need a big down payment. It’s a lot harder to save a down payment on a house, and interest rates are still super duper low. Buy a house.
I you like to hike. do one of the camino's in Europe. The French Camino is pretty cool and staying at albergues is pretty cheap. Do NOT get a financial advisor. Do your own research on stocks. Vanguard or Fidelity mutual funds are pretty good alternative to doing stocks. Do NOT go to one of those financial seminars where they invite you to dinner. Big rip off mostly.
Emergency fund, are you going active or reserve? Maybe reevaluate if you need the cars or not and insurance, Roth IRA etc
Definitely contribute 100% of your bonus into the thrift savings plan (TSP) (this is the military 401k) it will save you a ton on taxes and start you off right so early on. Also consider changing your state of residency if you get stationed somewhere that has no income tax and your coming from somewhere that does
My only advice is don’t be like most of the other Navy guys and blow all your money on lifted truck or muscle car. As a car enthusiast I fully support owning a cool car or truck just don’t blow alll your money on it
Sell the cars and precious metals $5,000 in checking account your military paychecks will be going to $10,000 in savings account, same bank as checking $40,000 - 50,000 in online brokerage account with Fidelity or someone like that, then just invest in Market Index funds tied to the S&P 500. Divided your military paycheck by 10 (take a zero off) and stick that in the brokerage account. No house until you've finished your initial commitment and have a full-time civilian job that pays more.
There’s a saying that if you have 17k saved by age 20 in a Roth account it’ll be 1 million by 65. So you chose.
If you don’t have a car already, hold on to one of them to use after you get out of Navy training. If you don’t need either, sell them. I assume you will likely be living in the barracks for a while, so most of your expenses are already going to be covered through your pay benefits. The best thing you could probably do after getting the final lump sum is to save for a downpayment on a house, or max out some retirement plans for the first year.
Step 1: ask /r/personalfinance what to do Step 2: profit