<prompt> Human: BACKGROUND:Currently am 27 years old and my dad just passed on suddenly couple of months ago back in February. My parents are divorced, and mum has been doing very well in her own career and does not require me to have immediate concerns for her. All this while since his passing, I have been settling most of his debts and legal stuff and the dust seems to have more or less settled barring a few minor stuff. Debts have been settled and the insurance companies have paid out.Now, I am not the most financial savy person and have only just recently started my career and its still too early to say that I am on the right path at the moment. There are still a lot of things Id like to explore but in this country of mine, Singapore, people at my age have more or less are stable in their career already and thinking of settling down with marriage and housing. So I would be lying if I be saying that I am under a bit of pressure.With my dads passing, I now have around 400,000SGD or 300,000USD sitting in my bank account. From what I was told by my aunt who is an insurance agent, I do not have to worry too much about my own insurance as my mum has me covered with the basics and rider plans already.I have spoken to a number of financial consultants in the industry already and a number of them has spoken about savings plans or unit trusts which my mum is against as she said that it never earns any money. My mum who is from a more conservative age suggested dumping that amount into fixed deposits which are already below the national inflation rate.I dont think I am a person of much talent to consider starting a business of my own so Im hoping to use this sum to invest and have an easier future that I would not be pressured with money.Thanks in advance for the advises!  <response>: Singapore is an interesting place, and I suspect that a lot of US-centric advice around here wont help you a lot. For example, SG is largely a centrally planned economy, with many major industries being partially held by the Government through Temasek. Im an EP holder not SCPR so take what I say with some salt.1. SGs stock market is a dividends-driven, rather than a growth-driven market. However, the major corporations are partially held by Temasek and therefore, in my view, fairly safe, as far as safety can be assured in a small country with no natural resources.2. If youre not considering leaving the red dot, unit trusts that are heavily invested in such companies SingTel, StarHub, SMRT, SBS, Comfort del gro, etc are what Id invest in.3. Global market participation is also possible. I had a UOB brokerage account that allowed me to invest in US securities. The trading costs are steep, though, and I dont think that forex is done particularly efficiently. US markets may be a good hedge against asian currency crises and the like.4. I assume youre HDB-eligible at some point; as an unmarried, not yet I presume. Using the cash to pay for HDB is a very nice deal; if you rent out your unused rooms, you can make quite a bit of money.5. Until youre buying an HDB, Id avoid touching the principal balance of your insurance payout. I think SGs market gives dividend yields in the 3 range, which would be about 9kyear; try to avoid spending off more than that. Even when buying an HDB, you can pay in part with CPF. In my view, drawing down CPF to reduce the hit on your cash assets makes sense in the current rate environment. Id be happy to elaborate privately. 