What would you with $20K?

[unglee]

Thanks for the response.

I'm 25 yrs old, with no debt and no real "plan" for this money. I don't need to worry about anything like the kid's college education, certainly. I'm just in the fortunate situation of having this extra money, and wanted to know what some more seasoned investors would do with it in my situation. I've never invested before and was just hoping for some helpful pointers towards a relatively safe solution for my money.

[Dan Mezick]

Spread in 2 or 3 sector ETFs that are moving. Metals, energy, Japan. Resist the urge to buy the overall US equities market right now.

[Sniper]

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I'm 25 yrs old, with no debt and no real "plan" for this money.

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Well your first goal should be to "Create a Financial Plan"... and your first step toward achieving that goal should be to understand what a Financial Plan is and why its important. You can accomplish that by reading some books, and/or paying a visit to a Financial Planner.

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I'm just in the fortunate situation of having this extra money, and wanted to know what some more seasoned investors would do with it in my situation.

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What a seasoned investor would do with their money wont help you, as you may have a very different risk/reward profile.

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I've never invested before and was just hoping for some helpful pointers towards a relatively safe solution for my money.

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The safest most proactive step you can take beyond educating yourself, would be to open an Emigrantdirect or ING savings account... which would earn you about 4% on your money!

Once you have put together a financial plan and given consideration to your risk tolerance, then you could start allocating to other investments with potentially higher returns.

[Dan Mezick]

excellent advice. Eventually a CFP will show up here offering his services, and do very well.

Check out I-bonds, you can buy them online (treasurydirect.gov) and they are safe and return a decent interest rate, currently I think around 6.73 or so. Although that is adjusted every 6 months.