Long time lurker...New situation

[krz1211]

I've followed ya'll for a long time! I am in the process of a divorce, but have $10k to invest. My efund is fully funded, I am maxxed out on retirement contributions, kids college funds are stable. 

He got our entire investment portfolio, and managed it over the years. Where do I start with this $10k? Is now even a good time to throw it in the market?

Thanks for the advice!

[ny96]

It’s always a good time to invest, although I wouldn’t put money into Tesla right now. I would open up a brokerage account and put the 10k into a mutual fund that is on the mid risk side.

[midwestmama]

What ny96 is a good suggestion. If you want some time to think about it, you could put it in a HYSA or short-term CD for 6 months or so to gain interest while you decide.

[fortnightlily]

Do you have any plans for when and how you might want to use the money? Until the Fed cuts interest rates, if you can find a CD, a high-yield savings account, or a money market fund at a brokerage account earning around 4.5-5%, that's a good short term solution.

Otherwise for a new investor I'd open a brokerage somewhere like Fidelity and put the money in a low-fee index ETF that tracks the S&P 500 or the Total Stock Market, then set and forget.

[imojoebunny]

Yeah, no Tesla stock, we have a play on electric car stocks, but it is a doughnut for us, not what will put food on the table, and it is not on Tesla. if you have $10 k to invest. I would open an investment account with vanguard or fidelity and invest in a lovely mutual fund that fits your risk profile. I have much of my mutual funds in S&P 500 stocks, but other people are more comfortable with balanced funds that have a mix of stocks and bonds. Only you can decide what your risk profile is, but unless you are old, I would invest in stocks, not bonds or CD’s

[mae0111]

I agree that a good S&P 500 ETF is the way to go. Mutual funds tend to have higher expense ratios, and also higher capital gains due to the structure of the product.

You should be able to find commission-free ETFs - while the expense ratios are lower than most mutual funds, you do have to pay a commission to trade ETFs unless you find a commission-free family. Vanguard (through vanguard.com) and iShares (through fidelity.com) have good commission-free ETF options. SPDR ETFs are good too, but I don't know if anyone is offering their funds on a commission-free basis and you can't buy directly from State Street/SPDRs. Fidelity used to offer some commission-free SPDRs, but I don't think they do anymore.

Good luck!

[sometimesrunner]

I would google "Bogelheads 3 fund portfolio" and go with those recommended funds. They're all low cost index funds.