You have a full time job and from another source other then your job you start taking in a extra $2000 a month.
You have no debt and your only monthly expenses are a mortgage/rent, utilities and food.

Ok, so if you have a mortgage you would not be debt free.

Just for the fun of it, what would you do with the extra monthly income?

Hmmm with no CC debt, mortgage already in place...I would begin to fund atleast a 1 year EF and beef up retirement contributions. Once I was in a good groove, enjoy the rest!

That ^^

Invest more.

I'd probably use a few thousand a year to max out my 401(k) contributions, invest about half, and spend the rest on toys. Because what's the point in having a bunch of money if you never enjoy it?

+1
assuming there are no CCs, build up a liquid 12-month emergency fund and max out 401k
I would also start paying at least for catastrophic health insurance if OP doesn't currently carry any

I would first put it in a high yield savings account, and then after about 1 year I would buy a 5 year CD with it.

First, I'd devote a chunk of it based on my marginal tax rate to paying quarterly tax payments ie, if you are in the 25% tax bracket, then right off the bat $500 of that newfound marginal income belongs to Barack Obama [and that's not counting social security and state taxes if due!]. That's assuming it doesn't move you into the next higher tax bracket, which is worse.

Next I'd use the excess to make sure you're maxing out a Roth IRA (if your income is low enough to use that) and investing significantly in your 401k AND building up an adequate cash reserve account worth a few months' expenses if you don't already have one.

After that, strippers.

I wouldn't put a penny into any sort of retirement accounts. I don't have any sort of retirement accounts now. I'm a strong believer of the "idea" that correlations that have held for decades will soon start to break down.

I'd get out of the dollar, as I have been, every paycheck for the past 5 months. I'd buy silver. A lot of it.

I'd also not mind a nice vacation in the Cook Islands.

ok wow!
Does cat food taste good?
Please come back and respond Ranb when you are on a steady diet of it during your retirement years.

Retirement accounts are just a vehicle that gets preferential tax treatment, you could shift your portfolio into commodities/currencies, so if you wanted to take a long-term bet against USD, you could buy cheap ETFs shorting dollar or tracking a currency basket or a commodity basket.... that said, while commodities provide some inflation hedge, they are correlated with global equity markets.... and have a lot of volatility. Just look at recent history.
Taking a currency bet, assuming you are right, you pocket a gain, but there is something to be said for keeping some of your money in $ assets because your post-retirement liabilities/expenses will be mostly in $...

But to restate my point, a retirement portfolio doesn't have to be 100% in S&P, it can be any combo of ETFs, stocks, bonds your brokerage selected by the plan manager allows you to buy.

I am not sure I get the argument against investing in retirement accounts. If employer matches 401k contributions, it's literally free money up to the limit of the match. Depending on current and future tax brackets, tax savings can be significant.

I am not an expert by any means, JMHO.

haha. I get that a lot. Just because I haven't been brainwashed into believing what the idiot box says, doesn't mean I'm wrong. My silver will be worth a lot more than your dollar denominated retirement accounts! Feel free to revive this thread when silver hits $50. I'll be too rich to post here then.

Just my opinion here, but I wouldn't be surprised if commodities run up and experience quite a bubble of their own, what with all these commodity ETFs coming on line, bringing massive amounts of cash into commodity markets creating false demand, people fretting incessantly about the declining dollar and hyperinflation, more celebrities than ever on commercials touting gold, and all sorts of self-appointed financial advisors explaining that the only way to invest for retirement is to pull the gold fillings out of your teeth and get a metal detector.

And then there'll be the mother of all bubble-bursts, commodities will implode like never before in history, and a lot of unsophisticated investors who have closets full of gold and silver and beans will get annihilated.

Actually I'm pretty sure this will happen, just can't predict the time frame on it.

Sorry for the confusion. The issue I have with retirement accounts is the lack of liquidity. I'd rather put my money into a regular investment account, and have access to the money whenever I need/want it. I'm very good with saving, so I don't need to be forced to put my money away for retirement.

Yeah, I think they're overdoing it these days, but I still feel more comfortable holding something that has value, and is easily divisible.

Then what have you been brainwashed by listening to HAM radio? That strategy sounds str8 out of Grapes of Wrath...good luck cause there is gold in dem der hills!

Though I kid, I love reading the different saving strategies, we have a date in 30 years Ran, right here...hopefully the library will still have free internet for you to use.

OP asked a simple question. I answered. I'm done now. Bye!

Depends on where it came from... if your favorite aunt and uncle gave you $12,000 each every year, you'd be $24,000 a year richer, and wouldn't owe a nickel in additional tax.

I know a guy who won $2,000 a week for life on a scratch off ticket. You know what he did? Bought a car with power windows, a Honda Accord. Hasn't changed anything else as far as we can see.

that kind of stuff never happens to me

oh wait, I don't play.......

That's like $100K a year. Honda Accord sounds about right.

Didn't mention whether it was new or not.

ITA. Buying commodities and metals as an investment is OK, provided you treat it as you would any other investment. The problem is when people buy them out of fear, as a hedge against some future Armageddon. Doing that is a sucker's bet.

Good point :-)

I like my honda.

I am real estate investor who invest for cashflow. I guess it is not hard to guess what I would be doing with it since real estate prices are falling like a brick in water in California? Finally you can get positive cashflow on your investment here again.

Why, start paying off the mortgage, of course!
Also I would beef up my retirement fund.

I'd cram down the mortgage payments and get truly debt-free ASAP.

Id first save 1 year of expenses. After that Id put $1000 a mo towards retirement and $300/mo towards a vacation fund so I could take a vacation yearly and with the rest Id start paying down my mortgage so I could be completely debt free.

If $2000 is post-tax:

$500 towards new car / insurance
$500 to savings
$1000 to investment/retirement

Me, personally? I'd retire. Now. $2k a month is double what I'd need to retire at this point in time,
In fact, $2k a month is *substantially* more than what I make at my F/T job. At 52, with the future of SS in doubt, I'd be an idiot to keep working. You can't replace or "bank" time - a rather precious commodity I personally value more than money. But again, that's just me....other folks' goals and priorities will of course differ.

I'd ask Suze Orman where to invest...

I would:

Pay off the remainder of my 401(k) loan (Im down to about 1800.00) the first month, then
Take 1000.00 a month and split it between my 529 and my son's 529
Split the remainder between
Saving 2 years of expenses
An emergency fund
New car fund
"Fun" fund

Since I'm already maxing out retirement and I worry about paying for college, I would:

put 50% in college funds split among my kids

put 25% towards general savings account

put 25% towards principal in mortgage every month.

save it for emergency use or invest it.