<prompt> Human: Because of a sudden death, I have been named the sole heir of an estate that is worth roughly 1.75 million. This includes a number of bank accounts, a home no mortgage, life insurance, CDs and other retirement funds.Ive always tried to be smart with my own money, but Im just about living month-to-month and have never even had a significant amount in my savings account. I definitely dont want to be like one of the cases you always hear about where someone comes into a significant amount of money and is destitute within a few years.Im meeting with a lawyer to go over the specifics and I plan on giving some of the money to family and potentially donating a significant portion of it.But, are there are other steps I should take?UPDATE:This post got much more attention than I could have imagined, so thank you to everyone who gave advice. As a quick update, I wanted to let people know that while most people in my life understand I have inherited a house and some funds, they are completely unaware of the total amount, and I have no plans to tell them, at least not yet. Even the lawyer I met with, who has been a long-time friend of our family, was in complete shock over the amount he was thinking more like 250,000.I should also note, since many people had to make assumptions because I gave no background info, that I own my own car paid in full, have no children, and aside from credit card balances, have no debt to speak of. The estate I am inheriting also has no debt. I also have a steady job that I enjoy and make roughly 80,000 annually.After the Thanksgiving holiday, once a lot of this has sunk in, I will try to update everyone on the situation and some of the decisions Ive made. But, Ive lived a fairly frugal life until this point Im in my early 30s and dont intend on making dramatic changes any time soon. I think the best advice people gave was to wait, and thats what I intend on doing with the vast majority of the funds.  <response>: Listen, if you manage this money well, you will be able to donate money continuously throughout your lifetime, AND maintain a very comfortable lifestyle.What you need to do first though is:1 Consult with your lawyer. You will probably need someone to talk you through taxes as well, do not spend any money until you know how much money you will definitely have left after all is said and done with Uncle Sam.2 Pay off any debt you have immediately. Credit Cards, Student Loans, Mortgage. Whatever, pay it now. It will be gone and never able to come back.3 Put a significant portion of this into investments. The stock market on average returns 8year over a 30 year time frame. This will cause 1M to be worth about 10M if invested intelligently. Index funds are your friend. Do not buy any startups or invest in any friends business. Go with what works.4 Make sure that your net worth is not decreasing significantly. This means no huge one time donations to charity. No huge gifts to friends or family. This is how people go broke. Dont go out and buy yourself anything ok well maybe something youve always wanted to get it out of your system. Pretend like you never got rich.Its hard to say what to do without knowing your situation job, education, age, but do not do anything rash. Let the money sit and earn money. Then you can do what you want with the money youre making passively off your own money. 