use the money for? And when?
Your goals and time horizon as well as your tolerance for risk should determine the type of investment you choose, whether individual stocks, a mutual fund, or something else. The full $50,000 certainly doesn t have to go toward one goal or investment. In fact, splitting it up can be a smart way to balance risk.
What s the best time to invest? If you re sitting on $50,000, $20,000, or even $1,000, the best time to invest is now. The longer your money is invested, the more time it has to compound. Every day you sit on the sidelines is a day of missing potential returns.
Although I wasn t in an annuity plan myself, I now know that many individuals get talked into investing in an annuity without understanding how they operate and what their fee structure looks like. Even without an annuity plan, though, I know the fees I was paying in my 403(b) were considerably higher than the fees I now pay in my self-managed index fund portfolio.
How to make the most of your employer-sponsored retirement plan
Although you have limited choices when it comes to your employer-sponsored retirement plan, it s still important to do your own research before blindly putting your money into investments chosen by an advisor. This is especially true if that advisor is going to make a commission off of your choices, as that can dictate what investments they recommend to you.
1. Donate your check to a person or organization that s been affected by the pandemic
If you re doing well financially, passing along your stimulus check to others could be a great way to spread the money around.
Writer Elizabeth Aldrich found herself in this situation during the first round of $1,200 stimulus checks almost a year ago, and wrote for Insider about her decision to donate the check to pandemic relief funds, mutual aid organizations, other freelancers, and small businesses. Rather than donating to a massive organization, I decided that I would rather find ways to donate my stimulus check that directly impact smaller communities that I m a part of, she wrote. This includes not only the communities I live in, but other communities that are struggling right now: artists and creators, freelancers, and small business owners.