re: Need some investing advice

There is no reason for you to feel tied to Exxon with your new $10k just because you already have shares; however, your existing shares are a different situation due to the capital gains tax you will owe. There just aren't any stocks out there that are sure things to outperform Exxon + offset the cap gains.

You should completely ignore the current Exxon holdings when deciding what to do with the $10k, except to the extent that you want to diversify.
You are basically asking two questions:
Should I sell my Exxon holdings (that have a very low tax basis) and reinvest in a different stock?
No.
What should I do with $10K I have to invest?
That depends on what your goals are.

if I got $10k as a gift, I would max out one roth and fund another for my wife (if applicable). I'd buy a few index funds and let it sit. Then you would have something almost resembling a retirement plan. Having a bunch of exxon stock is an investment, but not a retirement plan imo. and i would stop using those dividends to pay property tax. bite the bullet and pay them in cash, then reinvest dividends into the roth accounts.

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Would this be something to go through an advisor for or I see a lot of talk re: vanguard on here. I may try and go buy some books this week and start learning!

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you could certainly do this through an advisor if you are not comfortable doing it yourself. however, it is pretty simple to do yourself.

vanguard is a great company with solid, low fee etf's. you can set up an account with them and pick some of the funds mentioned in here (check the stickied thread - i think it references the favorite funds of many on here). you can also use any other online broker (schwab, td ameritrade, etc.) which have vanguard and many other etf's. Each of these has a bunch of funds they will let you buy without paying a trade commission. I'd pick the one with the most funds you like that trade for free (i went with td ameritrade, which has about 100 commission free etf's). I don't know about the rest of the brokers, but td ameritrade lets you manage multiple accounts under one, so you could also set up a roth for your wife and manage it with your own login info. (roth ira is an individual account - you have to keep the money separate).

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Would this be something to go through an advisor for or I see a lot of talk re: vanguard on here. I may try and go buy some books this week and start learning!

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You can do a Roth through an adviser or set one up with pretty much any online brokerage. I set mine up with etrade and it was very easy, and there are numerous commission free funds you can invest in (I know the same is true with Schwab and I assume thats the case with the others as well). Vanguard also seems pretty easy:

LINK

You have until Tax Day in April to contribute for 2014.

what about taking the money and applying it to a rental property around lsu?

I have 4 sons that will be going there starting in 8 years with 10-12 years of school all between them.

Something inexpensive like below as an example?

LINK

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what about taking the money and applying it to a rental property around lsu?

I have 4 sons that will be going there starting in 8 years with 10-12 years of school all between them.

Something inexpensive like below as an example?

LINK

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I don't have any investment properties so take this with a grain of salt, but the "good" places to live around LSU seem to change pretty frequently so I would be hesitant to buy something a decade out unless I were very comfortable about it remaining a safe and desirable place to live. I would also be concerned about the effect of low oil prices on south Louisiana property values.

Kids already know where they are going to school?

Friend of mine did that at Georgia. Then new apartment complexes opened with pools, he took a severe beating. Couldn't rent or sell.