Investing 45K? Should I put it all towards my home equity?

I have the option of putting 10k or 45K into my house. Or should I invest in Mutual funds with the extra 35k?

Mutual funds are overrated--they have fees and other issues that hold their value down. You can have the pluses of a mutual fund (diversification) without the downsides with an ETF (exchange traded fund) if you don't trust yourself to pick individual stocks.

What may be the better question before you invest in anything, however, is are you well protected for potential downsides now?

If you have credit card debt, the interest rate is high--get rid of it.

If you don't have health insurance--look into an HSA and make sure you're protected (also you can get some money put away for the future when you will need it).

Do you have private disability insurance? If not, a good thing to get when young and healthy and eligible.

Have you had your homeowner's looked at lately to make sure you have sufficient coverage? Ditto your auto if you have one? One unfortunate accident CAN wipe you out.

Do you have $10K in an accessible fund in case of emergency? (Lay-offs, massive medical bills--insurance is NOT the protection people believe--that is why half of all bankruptcies are for med bills AND most of those folks have insurance).
Do you have student loans? Get rid of them. You won't hurt yourself too much with a fund with a place like ING Direct where you can get 4% or better. Emigrant Direct and a few other are worth looking at. You will NOT be "making money" BUT you will have real liquidity and peace of mind which is worth something.

Make sure you don't have any authorized users on YOUR cards. Don't be a cosigner. Repair any problems with your house, especially if it could lead to a lawsuit against you (like a defective porch where someone could be injured).

Have you got a fully funded IRA (Roth or traditional)? If not, start one up--you can't make up for that lost time later on. Do you have a job with a 401(k) that MATCHES funds you contribute? IF so, make sure you contributed to the amount they'd match.

IF ALL of that is in order, congrats, you're in the top 5% of the population for being sensible about finances. Then look at what your mortgage costs and do a little research on what you WOULD have bought in the market. What's the difference in return? If you would have made about the same as the APR on your mortgage, put the funds in to get rid of your mortgage--you can NOT lose that money. If you would have done substantially better in the market, then put the $10K down (make sure you don't have a prepayment penalty AND send the check marked "principle only" to the mortgage company). You will save yourself some bucks and time in the long run. Invest the rest, but please consider learning more about options you have outside of mutuals.

Sounds like you're in a good financial situation--you might also want to see if you can take advantage of any tax credits for energy upgrades IN your home--those bills are ridiculous and going to get worse. Make your money work for you but also protect yourself from those who would rather sue than work.

If you have a low interest rate on your mortgage & you're comfortable with your house payments .. I say INVEST AWAY!! Buy ETFs.. lower costs

r u nuts, if u put it into the house could u get it out if u needed it. job lost, illness, accident, then what if this is all the money u have. it would carry u a long while till u were back on ;your feet financially and physically, have seen to many folks do this then value goes down things happen and they cant get the dollars out of the property. putting it in mutuals, and the market goes south so does your nest egg. best bet u,s, treasury i bonds, non taxable till u need it, buy in dominations of 50,100,500,1000 pays basically same interest as cd,s non cashable first 6 months, and lost of 3 months interest first 5 years, then no penalties, so if u needed say 5g's you could get it with very little lose after inital 6 months, purchaseable at any bank redeemable at any bank. be wise and be careful unless you have more stashed away.

If you can handl the house payment put the 10k down on your house. The interest is tax deductible. Put some away in short term CD's for emergencies, if you dont already have an emergency fund. Put the rest in stock and bond mutual funds.

i would strongly suggest you put all in CD's. The economy may be headed for a recession and if so, most investments will lose money. you don't want to invest now.

see how conditions are in 3 months and re-evaluate then.

don't throw it away... it will also give you time to study investing...

With the housing market right now losing in value, I would put it into an investment club. The reason is an investment club does not charge any fees as in broker fees management fee and load fees. I am in one if you are interested check out the web site it is http:www.freewebs.com/mnthighinvest No I don't make any money by referring them I am just answering your question. Good Luck no matter what you do and have a great day.