What would you do with a $5,000 bonus?

You really want to save. Why you don't may surprise you.

Good intentions abound: More than a third of respondents said they’d pay off debt. Many others claimed they’d save for short-term expenses (22%) or invest for long-term goals (15%).

A measly 2% said they’d buy something they couldn’t otherwise afford.

Admirable. But unlikely. Forty percent of people in the U.S. don’t have $400 set aside for an emergency, according to the Federal Reserve.

A $5,000 bonus can go far if used well.

If you invested that amount at an annual return of 8%, you’d have $50,313 in 30 years, $108,623 in 40 years and $234,508 in 50 years

If you directed that bonus toward debt, you could save years of bills. That’s because if you made only the minimum payments on a credit card with a $5,000 balance and an interest rate of nearly 18%, you’d be stuck in the red for more than 18 years and have forked over $6,400 in interest, according to Ted Rossman at CreditCards.com.

Full story at CNBC

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