VSP is funny, I got the entire check without them taking out taxes, 2 weeks later my parents (home of record) got a letter saying I will owe 28K+ in taxes the next April. A few months of interest was nice. I did 10K (max at the time) in traditional IRA, oh yeah, no ROTH that year, 6K in debt, saved some and a very nice down payment on a house. FWIW, that's what I did..