<prompt> Human: My mom was 69 and died of renal cell cancer after a 15 year battle. It was important to her to be able to leave her sons enough money when she died that they could turn it into a livelihood. With that in mind, she somehow managed to work up until the final year of her life, through chemo, experimental drug trials, emergency room visits, the pain -- through it all.I dont want the money she worked so hard for to go to waste. But I have no idea what to do with it. Wish it was eight years ago and I could invest in Facebook. Any suggestions?EDIT: Per request, heres some more info about me. Im 32, married, no kids, and make 50,000 a year. No debt, no house. Pay monthly rent on an apartment. No car. Few expenses. EDIT2: Thanks so much for all the smart advice. Although some people differ on what to do, I now have a very good idea of what my primary options are. Its really helped me to focus my thoughts. So thanks again everyone!  <response>: The I have X... link should help you a bit.My opinion OPINION!: Pay off any debts you might have. Set aside 6 months worth of expense for your emergency fund.Fully fund a Roth IRA for last year and this year if you havent filed taxes already, or just this year if youve already filed taxes. Use the rest as down payment on a house. If you dont want to do this because youre one of those guys who firmly believes in keeping a mortgage around and investing the difference because investments will significantly outpace the interest on your mortgage... Im not one of these people but a bunch of rpersonalfinancerpersonalfinance dudes are then... fully fund 401k or traditional IRA for the year if you qualify taxable brokerage filled will ETFs good mutual funds if you cant tax shelter itYou said you want to take some of the money to travel with, which is probably fine but I wouldnt get too crazy or extravagant with it. Your mother wanted this to provide for your future livelihood - if you even just take 75k of this money and invest it and it makes 8year for the next 30 years until you retire it will become 750k. If you have some good investment picks that make 12 youll have 2.25million. Id guess you can hit somewhere in between those two numbers - dont forget to consider this opportunity cost of whatever you spend today. 