<prompt> Human: needs some advice I am very lucky and grateful to be in this position.after working very hard i have been able to save 50k cash.The money is now earning a cool whopping 1I own a place which I still have a mortgage on about 133k left i am renting it outI have 3k on CCs I know this is the first thing to pay off because of high interest rate.Should I invest the 50k in paying down the mortgage? Mortgage is at 5 VS I have a friend suggesting for me to buy a house and rent it out to generate an income. just like everyone else I want to get the most bang out of the buck.I do have a 401k, I do own stock outside of 401k.I am considering the following:1. P2P lending.2. purchasing a second house to rent out.3. paying down my mortgage and collecting more revenue from the rental.4. open to other serious ideas.I think thats it...  <response>: You have to start with a plan: What is this money for? What do you want it to do? Whats your risk tolerance? Here are some ideas: Pay off your debts, if you have any. If you have credit cards with high interest, those have to go. As for your mortgage, you can try to refinance for a lower rate or consider paying it off. The only reason not to pay it off is if you think you can earn more than the interest rate by investing. Keep in mind that paying the mortgage is a guaranteed return on the money, so that makes it a solid option even at 5. If you dont have an emergency with 6 months expenses, you can set one up. Open an IRA, Roth or Traditional, making various investments within. You can contribute 5k for 2012 before April 15th and 5.5k for 2013. Live off the money and use your salary to max matched 401k contributions, if they are not yet maxed. I Bonds Invest in mutual funds in taxable accounts. Invest in stocks on your own, which is generally riskier than mutual funds. Invest in other securities such as corporatemunicipal bonds on your own in a brokerage account. Depending on the state you live in, there may be tax-exempt bond mutual funds you can buy into. Commodities, precious metals, etc. are an option, though I wouldnt get into them until you have a lot of other diverse assets and investments elsewhere. Real estate or REITs, same caveat as above. 