<prompt> Human: Hello. Im not sure if Im doing this correctly as Ive never been to this subreddit before, but someone pointed me in this direction. Recently I received a settlement from my insurance for a car accident that I was a passenger in. It was because the driver was underinsured. Now, all my medical bills are paid and the ordeal is over, and I am left with 50,000, with some ideas with how to use it. A little background: I am a 23 year old female graduating in May with a degree in the technical design field, and I hope to become an animator. After I graduate I plan on taking online classes to further my education my program had very little animation courses and stay in my current area until I get a job in my field, as I already have a great technical-related job here where I can support myself. I will eventually have to move as there are no opportunities in animation or otherwise in my area. I have several options Ive been considering... but Im not sure which combination of these I should do... or if theres something completely different I should do with it. 2,000 to build a PC This is most likely definitely happening 2,000 for a Wacom Companion Tablet Ive always wanted one of these beautiful things 5,000 for online animation courses Definitely happening Several thousand for some fun things to do after I graduate My work can get free tickets to E3, that would be an awesome summer after-graduation trip, or some other sort of trip somewhere, or other fun things to buy, Im not sure Build up savingsemergency fund Create cushion fund for when I do move to a new area to start my career Buy a used car mine is an older gas hog, and is also my mothers and I think she will want it back after I graduate One of my lifelong dreams is to build my own house. I know I will start saving monthly once Im making a good income. I considered starting a Roth IRA and putting in the 5,500 initially just to get started, but I dont know that much about financial things such as these. People have mentioned taxation and interest and I dont know much about that and IRAs. 200 or so for massages. In the accident I fractured my spine in two places in my lower back. The injury is completely healed now, but the muscles still give me grief from time to time, especially working 9-hour shifts on my feet. I definitely would like to buy several massages. Lastly... paying off my student loans. I have roughly 37,000 in debt so far. Should I pay that off all at once? Pay off a portion? Set some aside and pay little by little to build credit?As you can probably tell I really want to do some fun things with the money, but Im not sure how much I should check myself and do some smart planning for my future. Also please let me know if there is another option I havent even thought of that I should consider. Another question is how to store the money. Savings account or checking account or something else?Finally, thank you so much for your time to readrespond. Any advice is welcome and greatly appreciated!  <response>: Pay the debt off first and foremost. Everything else is a want vs having the ability to be debt free. So pay it all off to start with. The other 13k, 2k for your computer, 5k for your class as necessary for your new job. The other 6k will be needed for moving and getting started moving your stuff, deposits on an apartment and utilities, and possibly a down payment on a small used car Yes small used car. Yes more debt. But itll help you build some credit, you need a car, and you wont wanna drive too far with you back coming from someone recovering from a l5-s1 surgery and facing a fusion Yes I am saying no to play money and I sound mean. But its a long term plan. Once youre set in a job, not making those loan payments will be an awesome feeling and you can spend that money doing those things then instead of squeezing it in now and sadly, maybe hurting yourself worse -it sucks trust me, Im getting an awesome tax return, like 6k and. Im paying it all to my car note to pay it off quicker rather than going to comic con in Portland and meeting the 12th Doctor and 6others because the flight would kill me and I couldnt enjoy it 