probably just invest it into something or put it somewhere for percentages

Pay off some debts, set aside some for kids' college fund, save some back for a cheap used car, and potentially a vacation; which is much needed!

You guys are boring. I would get 2000000 penny sweets

It would get put into music hardware/software.

I have been making music for about 12 years now, and self-recording/digital-composing for about 5. I've never had the proper gear for it. I can finish stuff and it will sound great, but without the right tools it takes me ten times longer than a normal musician or engineer.

And up until earlier this year, I have lived in apartments and not had the space/freedom to set a serious workstation studio up. Now I have a dedicated music room. I'm fairly certain that I wouldn't use all the money (I could stand to pay a car off and finish a storage room), but with a few grand I could really make a difference in my recording chain.

Agreed. If one says "I'd put it into stocks (or somewhere else to add to it)", for what purpose? I presume you'd want to get the money out at some point anyway for certain purpose, unless you intend just to pass it to your offspring.

So what will your offpring do with it then? Play with stocks, pass it to their offspring, or use on cheap wine and expensive women (or vice versa)?

Ok, so if I get unemployed for a long time, $20000 in the savings account would help me to get by, but only for awhile. It is not like I could live happily ever after with that kind of money anyway, I'd have to find more work soon anyway.

20K I just spent ages earning, or 20K I just got given.

Hell, either way I'd put it all on red. 40K here I come!

help my parents with my tuition, spend some on stuff I want, and invest the rest.

Do they still exist? I miss pick & mix penny sweets :(.

In the US, a major source of debt early in people's lives is student loans. It's not uncommon to see people finishing their university degrees with $50-100k in debt. This naturally can take quite a few years to pay down, and the situation is made worse if the person didn't have a clear or realistic plan regarding what kind of career their degree was going to get for them. A bit later in life mortgages are a large source of debt, simply due to the fact that most people aren't in a position to have put away a couple hundred grand before they were ready to buy a house (although I'm not sure if it's really fair to lump in mortgages with other kinds of debt, at least for a reasonable primary residence, as it's basically similar to paying rent, except you're actually getting something from all those payments). Aside from those two major sources, it's typically unexpected major expenses that put people into debt (medical expenses, car repairs, house repairs, etc). This is typically exacerbated by many people having a hard time saving money, so while their normal day to day expenses don't incur any debt, when a large unexpected expense hits they don't have enough saved to be able to cover it, and thus have to go into debt.

That said, debt is by no means something that is inevitable. I just hit 30 myself, am quite happy with the state of my finances, and the only debt I've ever had was a $2000 loan from my parents for the security deposit and first month's rent when I got my current apartment after finishing grad school. In my experience there are two major components to staying out of debt. First, live within your means; it sounds simple, but it's something that a lot of people have trouble with (regardless of income level). The second major component is paying yourself first; by this I mean setting aside a set amount of money from each paycheck for a long-term savings or investment plan before anything else is paid for. Over time even small amounts, if set aside consistently, can add up to quite a bit. Having long-term savings/investments provides for retirement later in life, but also means that if/when unexpected large expenses pop up you have a way to handle them other than doing into debt (I personally prefer setting up an "emergency fund" with fully liquid assets that's apart from my long-term investments, but that's more of a personal preference).

It's important to make the distinction between investment and speculation. What you're describing is speculation, and for the most part is a sucker's game for those of us who aren't well-connected. Investment is longer-term, and focused on share price gains which reflect actual changes in the value of companies as opposed to the day to day swings driven by the whims of speculators. Long-term investment pays off for the vast majority of people, as long as you don't do anything silly like buying all your stocks at the height of a bubble, or putting all your money into a single company that you have a good feeling about. At the most basic level, find some companies in different market sectors that have solid business plans and good track records, put some money into them, and just leave it there for a couple of years. Day to day and month to month the companies will gain and lose value, but over the long term you'll almost certainly see your investments rise in value (and if you pick companies that pay dividends you'll also get a steady stream of income as well, regardless of what the stock prices are doing). It's also important to keep in mind that investments haven't made or lost you money until you sell them. If the market has a bad day, or week, or month, or year, seeing the value of your portfolio go down can be scary, but you haven't lost any money unless you sell all you're investments while the market is down (it should be noted that despite the recent recession, most of the people who simply held on to their investments during all the craziness actually ended up seeing their portfolios increase in value since the market ended up rebounding, even if it took a bit of time).

However, it's important to recognize this is all talking long-term, so you need to be able to set aside the money for a period of several years; if emergency expenses can force you to have to liquidate your investments then it can mean you could end up being forced to lose money due to having sell when the market is down. Thus I wouldn't recommend investing unless you already have enough liquid assets set aside to cover any emergencies that may come up.

GREAT idea. Take it from someone who knows, it is *very* easy to get in over your head with them.

Better idea is to get a debit card which is also a "visa" for online purposes. IE, my debit card lets me buy online and such, but draws off the balance, as opposed to charging me.

Yup, that's exactly what I have now! Got it when I went to college...it's the best thing ever, haha. There are very few places that don't take one now, which is awesome too.

I ran into one place that wouldn't take mine...the Royal Canadian Mint of all places! I kid you not! That is the only place so far.