I won a sweepstakes and will be getting USD 50k...it is verified that it is legitimate although no taxes have been taken out so I will have to claim this income on my taxes next year, they will send a 1099. I do have a significant amount of student loans (a little greater than 50k) & I am currently in school now (through a scholarship) finishing my degree so I am not paying towards the principal right now only small interest payments. I also have credit card debt (under 10k) and a car loan (around 15k)—recently my income increased, for the last 3 years I made around $25.00/hour and prior to that I made around $13.00/hour, which is how I incurred the credit card debt. I am wondering if it would be wise to invest this money into a business or real estate after paying off my credit card debt.
I am 30 years old, live in Indiana, a single parent with three children, I work full time, and go to school online. I make a decent amount of money now US$50.00/hr & work 36 hours a week, I am renting US$1040/month, plus have credit cards and car payment (5.5% interest). I have a 401(k) with about $15,000.00 in it and a regular savings account with around $2,000.00 in it. I just recently started making $50.00 an hour & I realize with my job earnings I could get out of debt in a fairly reasonable amount of time depending on how aggressive I pay. I also know the USD 50k won't get me out of debt completely either, so I thought paying the high interest credit cards off and then investing the remainder into starting a business or a property might be the best idea to create another stream of income...(?) I had no intention of quitting my full time job. I just wanted to possibly gain insight to other options outside of throwing all of the money to debt or wasting it all.