Is a 10 year old uncashed paycheck still good?
You probably can't deposit the check directly, but there are mechanisms in place to get your money through other means. In the US, all states and territories have an unclaimed property registry. Before you contact the company that wrote the check, you should check that registry in your state. You will have to provide proof that you are the intended recipient, having the original check in your possession should make that considerably easier.
The HSA money is yours to keep. You can't add new money into the account and get a tax deduction for the new money, but you can spend the old money on medical expenses. First log into the website for the HSA and see if you have money left. This can be important because if there is still money left they might be charging you a monthly fee. You should have gotten a letter from the old company or the administrator when you left the High deductible insurance plan. This would have told you your options regarding the spending or transferring of old funds. HSA related numbers would have appeared on your W2, and you should have a 1099-SA from the administrator. It is likely that there is a copy of the 1099 on the administrators website. The numbers you enter on the tax forms depends on how much you contributed from your paycheck, how much your company contributed, and how much you sent (if any) from other sources besides payroll deduction. You will also have to know how much money was withdrawn from the HSA and how much was used for medical purposes. The last month rule is for those people who start in the middle of the year. If you start partway through the year you are allowed to make the maximum contribution if you still have it at the end of the year, and you expect to keep it.  The Last Month Rule The Last Month Rule states that if you are covered by an HSA eligible   health plan on the first day of the last month of a given year, you   are considered an eligible individual for the entire year. In turn,   you can then contribute to the HSA for that full year. If you are covered by an HDHP on Dec 1st of a given year, you may contribute the maximum for that year. For example, you could begin coverage and open up my HSA in November   of a given year. Come December 1st, you are covered and per the Last   Month Rule, considered an eligible employee for that full year. That   allows you to contribute up to that year’s contribution limit, even   waiting a few months to make a prior year contribution if you like.   Back up the truck and load up the HSA! However, there is a catch.  The Testing Period The Testing Period states if you use the Last Month Rule, you must   remain an eligible individual (covered by HDHP) for the following 12   months. If you fail to remain an eligible individual (change insurance   plans, lose insurance plan, receive other health coverage) any “extra”   contributions you made as a result of the Last Month Rule will be   taxed and penalized. If you contribute per the Last Month Rule and end your HDHP insurance within 1 year, you will have to pay tax on any excess   contributions you were allowed to make and pay a 10% penalty. In this case, “excess” contributions are determined by the   contribution limit / 12 months, compared to your time eligible. Your comment regarding your existing finances is very relevant and helpful. You need to understand that generally in personal finance circles, when a strong earning 22 year-old is looking for a loan it's usually a gross spending problem.   Their car costs $1,000 /month and their bar tabs are adding up so the only logical thing to do is get a loan.  Most 22-year-olds don't have a mortgage soaking up their income, or a newborn.   With all of this in mind I essentially agree with DStanley and, personally, and many people here would probably disagree, I'd stop the 401(K) contribution and use that money to pay the debt.  You're still very young from a retirement standpoint, let the current balance ride and forego the match until the debt is paid.  I think this is more about being debt free at 22 quickly than it's about how much marginal money could be saved via 401(k) or personal loan or this strategy or that strategy.  I think at your age, you'll benefit greatly from simply being debt free. There are other very good answers on this site and other places regarding the pitfalls of a 401(k) loan.  The most serious of which is that you have an extremely limited time to pay the entire loan upon leaving the company.  Failure to repay in that situation incurs tax liability and penalties.   From my quick math, assuming your contribution is 8% of $70,000 /year, you're contributing something in the neighborhood of $460/month to your 401(k).  If you stopped contributing you'd probably take home a high $300 number net of taxes.  It'll take around 20 months to pay the loan off using this contribution money without considering your existing payments, in total you're probably looking at closer to 15 months.  You'll give up something in the neighborhood of $3,500 in match funds over the repayment time.   But again, you're 22, you'll resume your contributions at 24; still WAY ahead of most people from a retirement savings standpoint.  I don't think my first retirement dollar was contributed until I was about 29.  Sure, retirement savings is important, but if you've already started at age 22 you're probably going to end up way ahead of most either way.  When you're 60 you're probably not going to bemoan giving up a few grand of employer match in your 20s. That's what I would do. Edit: I actually like stannius's suggestion in the comments below.  IF there's enough vested in your plan that is also available for withdrawal that you could just scoop $6,500 out of your 401(k) net of the 10% penalty and federal and state taxes (which would be on the full amount) to pay the debt, I'd consider that instead of stopping the prospective contributions.  That way you could continue your contributions and receive the match contributions on a prospective basis.  I doubt this is a legitimate option because it's very common for employers to restrict or forbid withdrawal of employee and/or employer contributions made during your employment, but it would be worth looking in to. I ran a plastic recycling plant with my dad about 10 years ago and the techniques or operations are still the same. The beauty of the plastic industry is that the market is extremely under served. The market is so under served that many of the big processors across the country will lease the machinery to you to process the material they send to you and let you pay for the machinery by processing some of their inventory for them. Recycling is a lucrative industry. I still have my old business plan if you are interested. You have a major player there in Northern Cali. Let's talk trueoutlawconsulting@gmail.com No. I have partaken of but not lately. It's only become non-taboo here in the last 10 years and I was raised to think it was bad and people who do it are slackers or lazy and the like. I've thankfully grown out of that old way of thinking and now know how profitable it is and feel this is a good venture to begin building a nice portfolio. I'd also like to get into real estate and solar and wind as well Look into the Coverdell Education Savings Account (ESA). This is like a Roth IRA for higher education expenses.   Withdrawals are tax free when used for qualified expenses. Contributions are capped at $2000/year per beneficiary (not per account) so it works well for young kids, and not so well for kids about to go to College. This program (like all tax law) are prone to changes due to action (or inaction) in the US Congress.  Currently, some of the benefits are set to sunset in 2010 though they are expected to be renewed in some form by Congress this year. Yes. Savings accounts and CDs today pay almost nothing. They are not a way to grow your money for the future. They are a place to keep some spare cash for emergencies. I don't have such accounts any more. Personally, I generally keep about $2000 in my checking account for any sudden surprise expenses. Any other spare money I have I put into very safe mutual funds. They don't grow much either, but it's better than what I'd get on a savings account or CD. Here's what I'd do: Pay off the cards and medical. Deposit 35k in the best interest bearing accounts you can find (maybe some sort of ladder).  Link your student loans payments to this account. This frees up $486 a month in income, and generates a small amount of interest at the same time. Now, set up some sort of retirement account.  Put $400 a month in it. This leaves you with $86 a month to use as you please. You still have $10 000 cash, out of which you could buy an inexpensive used car, and bank some as emergency funds. I disagree with most of the answers here so far because they are either too risky or too conservative and don't take taxes and retirement into consideration. OP, keep in mind the higher the potential return, the greater the risk. You haven't stated your risk tolerance, but consider the following: Pick a certain percentage of your $10k to invest for the long term. Pick a low-cost index fund like the S&P500 Index. Historically this investment does well in the long run, and it gets you started in investing. Keep the balance, the money you will need for the short term, right where it is not earning much interest. Have you started saving for retirement? Consider starting a Roth IRA (if you are in the USA) with some of the money for tax advantages. It's up to you to decide how much you should invest and how much you need to keep on hand for emergencies or short-term needs. There are plenty related questions on this forum you can browse.