Go with an investment planner unless you have the time to do it yourself. They can provide what the target IRR would be for each option. Then it is a decision on what makes you more money, the investments or not paying interest on debt. Just always remember that the higher the IRR target, the higher the risk.
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be careful about that. I was in a similar situation and hit with a bill of around 30% in estate tax. You need to listen to Aston lady and talk to an accountant before even thinking about investing.

When you are ready to invest, whatever you can put away for at least 5 years and not need or be tempted to touch will do nicely in a growth fund.

Through all the economic hell we have been through, I have not stopped investing in my retirement.

Making yourself debt free, taking advantage of an awesome real estate market, etc can be assisted by a trustworthy CFP and I would be happy to share mine with you if you like.

He told me that a recession is a terrible thing to waste.:-)
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It's kinda complicated, but what happened worked out in our "favor" if you want to call it that. The farm had already been deeded to my dad with my grandmother retaining life interest. Through the succession between my dad to my mom, and then my brother and I, all inheritance taxes were lowered significantly because each succession retained quite a healthy portion of the life interest and after our $100k exemption, very little tax was paid. When my grandmother passed, the full tax is due once again, but as stated in the will, my aunt is to pay those with funds left to her in the form of her cash/assets she received. Therefore, ~$30k of the inheritance taxes are "paid" out of what was left to our aunt.

Plus she has to foot the bill for next year's property taxes as our state pays in arrears, therefore, 2010 paid taxes are from 2009, thus we're not responsible for that as we never earned a penny of income off the farm in 2009.

Still, I'd give it all away to have gotten rid of the cancer and what he endured the last 6 months of his life.
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Amen brother. Pancreatic cancer took my father.
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Go to http://www.daveramsey.com/ learn what he is about ,then find one of his endorsed local providers for investing in your area.We have been following his plan for about 5 years, it has turned our life around. i was laid off for 9 months this year and was able to enjoy the time off because we were debt free except for the house.
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I've followed Dave some and been through the class. I received money last year and put $10k in savings as my emergency fund and everyone on his message board disagreed with it saying $9k needed to go on my student loan. In a single earner household, the extra $ in the bank was more insurance should I lose my job. Sure enough, I lost it in July and it was much added security to ensure we wouldn't struggle to make ends meet while I was on unemployment.

I think he has some great ideas though.
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Exactly. He passed the night before my oldest daughter turned 5. I was fortunate enough to have 2 gma's and a gpa still living just before I turned 34 and have lost both gma's since. My kids will only grow up remembering my MIL, so it's something my dad and kids will miss out on. My dad nearly passed before my son was born where he learned we were going to give his middle name.
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like Gary, I am happy to see that all your demons have been safely put to rest, an dyou can now participate on cigar forums agian... what cigars are you smokin these days.... and how is the job search goin?????
Please let me know....
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