‘I Just Inherited $40,000. What Should I Do With It?’

My grandmother recently passed away at 95 and left me and her other grandchildren some money. After taxes, it should come out to about $40,000 each. This is more money than I’ve ever had, and I’m not sure what to do with it. I’m 29, single, and finished my master’s degree in education a few years ago. I have a mix of private and government student loans amounting to about $20,000 and a little bit of credit card debt (about $4K). I live in an expensive city and would love to own an apartment here someday. I would also love to travel, which I’ve barely ever done because I was always in school or paying for it. Finally, I feel like I should do something that honors my grandmother’s memory. I’m grateful that she lived her life in a way that gave me this opportunity.

I currently work as a teacher, so I have a pension plan through the union. (One of the only perks of my job, which is otherwise pretty thankless.) Eventually, I should be eligible for some student loan forgiveness if I continue teaching. So I am not sure if I should use this money to pay off my loans, even though I would like to have those bills off my plate. I would also like to have some career flexibility down the line, which I know requires savings — something I’ve never had before now. What should I do?

Another American journalist has been detained in Russia. Yet another reason to eat less red meat. Karen Russell on the need for climate optimism. J.K. Rowling wants to remind you she’s a transphobe. And some counter-programming: Did you know that Kristen Stewart has a queer ghost-hunting show? Paul Hollywood is totally kind of hot. All the streamers that raised their prices this year. Bad Bunny is keeping busy. And thanks, boomers.

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