<prompt> Human: 30 years old1500 monthly income500 mortgage1 credit card paid in full every monthEmployer match 401K. I currently put in 4 and increase this by 1 each year.680 credit scoreOnly 3000 in savingsJust received 20,000 inheritance Please advise on how I can best take care of myself both now and in the future.Where should the 20,000 go? Do I need more of a nest egg? Should it be put away for long term future?I will also need a new used car within the next 3 years. Currently my mortgage and 1 CC are my only lines of credit.I would appreciate any advice on how I can better my financial status. Edit...yes I share a mortgage with someone Im not married to. Also, our house is more than enough for us and have talked about closing off the stairs and renting the upstairs as a two bed one bath apartment. Our total mortgage is 1000 and I pay 500. If we created the rental we could get 800month for it easily. This would of course require some money down to make this happen. We would need a kitchenette installed, but there is a bathroom already up there. Would this option be a good place for some of that 20,000 to go? If I had to front the money for this I would make sure that rent from tenants would come to me until the 20,000or however much it took was reimbursed to me. Does this option trump long term investment because I could get it back relatively soon and then move forward with the investing? This would change my income to expense ratio for many years to come. We also could pay 1800 toward our monthly 1000 mortgage after my initial down payment toward renovations was reimbursed to me.  <response>: Invest in gaining certification, skills, education, etc to raise your income. 