re: What to do w/ $500,000

Good for you that you had someone like this in your life.

We don't know your age or risk tolerance, but you sound thoughtful and responsible with your spending habits.

Do you live in an area with reasonable economic growth? I do and am doing well in real estate. I built most of my wealth in the stock market. Once I had some money, I began investing in real estate. First with some rentals, but now thru new construction and occasional commercial. Having a decent amount of liquid assets made this a good option. Where you live affects margins, though.

Rental properties can have 2 approaches. Keep investment at a minimum and go for good cash flow with longer mortgage. Or invest more into them, and focus on total cost over long term with short mortgages and weak cash flow until they are paid off.

New construction can be very profitable. Residential is generally less risky than commercial. Buy a lot, hire a builder, agree on house design with your builder, get a construction loan, build a spec house, and sell it. With a decent amount of liquid assets, banks will love you and loan enough money to build the house. Your out of pocket is pretty low when the house sells in a reasonable amount of time. Talking with a couple of builders and realtors in your area could let you know what margins to expect. This really works in a strong economic area because companies are hiring and people with good jobs buy houses.