<prompt> Human: When I was 4 years old, my aunt died of cancer, and left my brother, sister, and If 20,000 each in a trust fund. We were not to touch it until we turned 18, and she wished it to be used for college funds. When my sisteroldest turned 18 she took it out for college, but blew it all on cars and other things. Now I am 20, my brother 24, and neither of us have touched the money yet. We dont need it for college funds, we are both in the military and using tuition assistance and have our G.I. bills.Next week my entire family will be gathering together in the same place for the first time in many years, and they want us to decide what to do with the money.I want to know if I could stretch the money more by investing it or putting it in some sort of retirement fund? Also, I know almost nothing about finance. I know how to make a paycheck and pay my bills and thats about it. I dont want to try and invest it and get ripped off by not knowing anything.Also, currently the only money I owe is 6,000 on a car loan. Other than that Im not in any serious debt, but still live paycheck to paycheck and do not have any savings Im lower ranking enlisted so my paychecks are pretty slim. I was thinking of taking 10,000 of the money, using 6,000 to pay off my loan, and then putting the remaining 4,000 into an emergency savings. Would it be wise to use that much of the money all at once? I just do not know much about managing finances or setting myself up for the future, and I do not want to be young dumb about the money like my sister did. if you have anything to input, thank you!  <response>: but still live paycheck to paycheck and do not have any savings Im lower ranking enlisted so my paychecks are pretty slim.If this is the US military: You need to stop making excuses and start saving. Even as a low-ranking service member you should be pulling in 17,000 a year and have near-zero expenses. You went ahead and picked up a car payment and Im willing to bet you have a cell phone bill and probably an internet bill. You also need insurance and gas for that car. Im also willing to bet those expenses arent 1,250 a month, so where is the money going?Bare minimum you need to be putting some money into your retirement savings as well as building an emergency fund. This runs counter to a lot of the advice here, but I wouldnt touch your inheritance from your aunt until youre on the proper track with the money you make from the job. If you use this windfall to fix the mistakes youve made with your budget, youre just going to continue to life an unsustainable lifestyle.Yes, Im actually advocating you pay interest on that car loan just so you learn better money management. You arent in crippling debt, you just arent prioritizing properly. 