A $10,000 bonus can solve a money problem, but it can also expose one. Put it toward a credit card and interest charges may shrink, stash it in savings and the next surprise bill becomes less scary, or move some into a Roth IRA and give retirement savings a serious boost.
The difficult part comes from realizing that all three choices can make sense. The right destination depends less on the size of the bonus than on what the rest of the financial picture looks like.
