<prompt> Human: Hello PF. I worked at a Silicon Valley startup and a year or so ago made around 1.5M in stock options - or 1M cash after taxes. Now that this has finally sunk in I realize that I have no idea what Im doing. My banks try to push investments, but Im sure their advisors are working on commission. In fact, I did fall for one pitch - tentatively put in 150K and so far its doing terribly.I have no debt at all and want this to be my nest egg - reasonably safe, but growing more than the .000001 Im getting from the bank.I live very frugally - well within my income, so for now I dont need the money but Id like it to be reasonably liquid in case of emergencies or life plan changes.This may not be a typical PF post. This is a throwaway account so not karma whoring. I am a clueless noob, and I know it. I grew up on welfare, but studied hard and this happened, but I have no family or close friends who can advise me. Even the generic advice, find a good financial advisor, is Greek to me. How??? Where??? What does good even mean and how can I tell the difference? So really just looking for some direct advice from the world.Assistant: Maximise your tax sheltered investments 401k IRA. Dump the rest into a Vanguard Index Fund. Stay away from bankers, brokers and financial advisors, and never tell a soul you have that much cash. Human: Thanks - but I thought the 401k limit was 10kyear?  <response>: I think it is 17,500 