Work towards your retirement.

You NEVER know what tomorrow will bring. Imagine that your retirement goal is age 50 but at age 45 you get injured and can’t work anymore. How screwed are you?

If you can retire even a year earlier, then that means if you WANT to continue working beyond that date you can. But if your boss is an ass then you can walk out.

Nothing says you have to continue working or that you can’t continue working. It becomes a choice.

Imagine you retire at 50 but at 51 you are injured and bed ridden. Would have been nice to see more of the world before that happens.

Take care of you.

Donate. If you don’t need the money and all your and your family members needs are met, I think donating would be the right ethical thing to do.

I work in the finance sector, I am IT guy with zero knowledge or interest in investing.

Working in the finance industry binds me to additional rules, I can’t buy and sell stocks as I want to, I need pre-approval from the CEO of my company to sell stock for profit (I can still sell at a loss without pre-approval), I need to report any stocks I have to the company as well as any transactions.

So I just don’t bother.

I have got a few bonuses, and what I usually end up doing it just putting them in my savings account.

If I did bother I would invest in funds, as they are often less volatile than stocks.

Since it sounds like you have younger kids, I’d take a decent sized portion of it (maybe 2-8k) and use that to make lasting family memories. Seeing everything of interest in a short range (zoos, aquariums, caves, gardens, museums, national parks, whatever), more frequent small vacations (driving distance or short flights to the beach/mountains/whatever), occasional major vacations (other countries, theme parks, cruises, whatever your family finds interesting). Or investing in lifelong hobbies that you can do together, like skiing, art, tennis, restoring cars, etc.

After that, the rest I would add to my FIRE plan. It would not necessarily mean retiring sooner (though it might), but it would be about adding flexibility to my life. If my savings were larger, I could always just to dip into that to pay for college or I be better prepared to deal with an unexpected layoff or emergency.

“Some people need a budget to save; others need a budget to spend.”

My suggestion would be pick a % of your income to allocate as “fun money.” 5%, 10%, whatever; the most important part is you budget it. Stick it in its own savings account, then invest the rest. Then, whenever you have the opportunity to do fun things, spend extra on hobbies, help family, donate, etc, you know exactly how much you can spend.

6 months of all of your expenses in a high yield savings is number one. Good times are great, take it from me though, tomorrow they can stop and you’ll be back to zero income, when that happens you’ll be happy you have that savings.

After that, investing. Very easy to get into, if you don’t want to get in right now you can just put the money in CDs and then swap it over to the market later. Not individual stocks, I’m talking index funds and ETFs, things that track the overall market, not a specific company. Then just set it and forget it. Don’t check it daily or weekly, just let it sit and make you more money.

Treat investing as just another expense, that has the lowest priority. As Warren Buffet says, pay yourself first. So first pay your bills, then your savings, then with what ever is left as the other commenters said, set aside X amount for fun play money (and it’s good to have a number for this, that number can spiral if you don’t control it, all of a sudden you just spent 2 grand on a GPU you didn’t need), and then put in your Y amount into investing. When times are good it is good to set everything you can for the future. You’ll be happy when times aren’t so good.

My father used to spend his bonuses on family trips. Back when we were kids, we had so many great memories with our parents. Father always made sure to take as many photos as possible.

Looking at those photos, makes me I want to do the same for my kids as I loved it to bits, but a bit difficult nowadays with everything being way too expensive.

However, I learned that trips, adventures, hikes, or any family activity builds trust, memories, relationship, and an opportunity to capture a lot of great photos for the future.

Similar boat recently, talked to an FA and am now investing. Also got a life insurance policy and LTD policy just in case…

Budget 1500 of it to investments and savings. 300 of it to charities of your choice ideally locally focused ones like food banks, shelters, housing programs, etc. Use the last 200 as hobby or fun money to take your family out to a couple extra events or eating out.

24k a year, I would put 7.5 in my ROTH IRA, 10 in emergency fund, 2.5 for kids college. If emergency fund is ready I’d give kids more.

I’d seriously consider donating some of it.

I fund hobbies, but before I do that, I make sure me, my friends, my dog, and things in the home can be taken care of.

If you have extra money, you can invest that to become more money. That’s probably the most mature thing to do. Otherwise just hookers and cocaine…

How old is the kiddo? Old enough to have a creative hobby? Fund that hobby.

• Maybe they like drawing. Take them on a $300 shopping spree at the art store.
• Maybe they like competitive dancing/performing. Spend the money on a trip taking them to a competition in another city/state/country.
• Maybe they like woodworking. Let them buy the tool(s) they need to take their craft to the next level.
• Maybe they like coding and computing. Send them to a kid-centric coding camp.
• Maybe they like making music. Buy them that new instrument or private instruction on how to get better with the one they have.

Whatever it is (that is a creative hobby, not just Fortnite skins), letting them move forward with it can help them grown and succeed in ways you can’t imagine decades from now.

My 2 cents: Invest it in something pretty stable (to counter inflation) and if you or your family doesn’t need it later (wait until your kid is financially stable) donate the money to a good cause.