What would you do with $25,000? The winner of the Pay My Mortgage, Please Sweepstakes will get to make that decision soon. Zillow will award the winner $25,000 to pay their mortgage, allowing them more financial freedom throughout the next year. Even without a mortgage, they’re eligible for the cash prize.
We asked some personal finance experts what they would do with the winnings. Compare your plan with their choices.
Real Estate Goals
If I were given $25,000 to do with as I please, the money would go toward buying a new house for my family. We’re planning on moving within the next year so the funds would just add to the down payment we’re currently building. If we weren’t in the down payment-saving mode the funds would go in our taxable brokerage account to be invested in several low-cost index funds at Vanguard. — John Schmoll of Frugal Rules
If I was given $25,000 I would make a big, $20,000 payment on my mortgage balance. It’s our last debt. I would put $2,500 into a big extended family vacation and donate $2,500 to my church. — Philip Taylor of PTMoney
If I was given $25,000, I would set $5,000 aside for our travel/vacation fund and put the rest toward paying off the balances on our rental properties. Once those are paid off, I can essentially retire from my day job, so that would be a sweet gift! — Kim Parr of EyesOnTheDollar
Family First
If I were to win $25,000 I would invest the majority of it in my daughter’s college fund. She is two and her future is extremely important to me. The rest of the money would be spent to finish the basement on the house my wife and I just purchased. — Sean Bryant of OneSmartDollar
I would split the money in half and put them into college savings accounts for my kids. My wife and I spent the first 13 years of our marriage racking up over $109,000 in credit card debt, and then spent 5 years paying it all off. Because of that, we have not saved up as we had wanted to help with our children’s education. — Travis Pizel of EnemyOfDebt
Dig Out of Debt
If I was given $25,000 to spend I would put that money directly toward my law school debt. — Natalie Bacon of TheFinancialGirl
Take Care of Business
I’d put it in my business account. I’m self-employed, and our business runs lean, but having that much cash in our account would help us level up in ways that we can’t on a shoestring. — Kathleen Celmins of FrugalPortland
Diversify
If I had $25,000, I would use it in a few different ways. I would max out my Roth IRA with some of the money (about $4,000). I would take $10,000 and put it toward my basement refinishing project. I would put $6,000 into a few individual investing accounts outside of retirement. I would then take the rest ($5,000) and take my family on long vacation in the Mediterranean. — Grayson Bell of DebtRoundUp
Because our main goals in life are travel and retirement, The Debt Free Guys are strategic with every dollar we get, whether through work or winnings. For that reason, we don’t have a profound, one-word answer. Because Uncle Sam always has his hand out, we would first calculate our tax payment on the $25,000. For us, it would be about $5,000. We’d set that aside in a savings account until our taxes were due the following year. We can’t forget those in need, so we’d give $1,000 to charity. Our favorite and one we donate to now is Project Angel Heart in Denver, CO. We’d then think about the long-term benefits with this money and put $5,000 each in our Roth IRAs for investing, making a net contribution of $10,000. Even though the rate of return on the investment wouldn’t be on par with investing in the market, we’d invest another $7,000 on a home remodel project. Finally, because we love travel, we’d put $2,000 towards a vacation for that year. This way we see immediate and long-term benefits with this money. — David Auten & John Schneider of DebtFreeGuys
Want a shot at $25,000 to pay your mortgage or turn some of your dreams into reality? Enter the sweepstakes before August 31, 2015 for a chance to win.
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