Reduce expenses first, cover cash flow requirements then increase revenues without more risk than you can accept. Begin by paying off highest interest debt and

Reduce expenses first, cover cash flow requirements then increase revenues without more risk than you can accept. Begin by paying off highest interest debt and continue until you run out of money or have paid off all your debt. You always get rid of debt because debt costs you money on an ongoing basis. Better is to make money - which is not just a little better, it's double better. You get to keep cash you would have lost due to interest PLUS you get to make more money by investing. Next you need to try and make sure you have enough cash flow to continue meeting recurring expenses, or make purchases that eliminate or reduce recurring debt. Buy a house instead of renting, that sort of thing. After that the general rule of thumb is to invest in the highest-return investments you can find that provide an acceptable level of risk. If you are 40 years from retirement and can accept a very large amount of risk, then you might want to invest part of it in another startup that you think has a good chance of a very high rate of return. You might put part of it in stocks (high to medium risk), bonds (medium to low risk) or money market items like certificates of deposit (low risk, but some of these tie up your money for longer periods of time than others).