re: Advice wanted- Sitting on a lot of cash from sale of business

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For an acct. with over $1 million, they charge 1%.

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thats $10,000
is that a lump sum for the life of the account or a recurring fee?
i'm not opposed to advice and guidance but gotdam

No idea what your tax situation is with those sales and income but you should speak to a financial advisors who is sophisticated and has access to products where you can make investments but get tax write offs. I will add, you need to start to act now with the year end coming up and how your income/sale will be recorded

Do it yourself portfolio:
Large Cap Blend 20% (S&P 500, VTSAX)
Large Cap Value 20% (SCHD, VVIAX)
Small Cap Blend 20%
Small Cap Value 20%
Total international 20% (VTIAX

Gives you good diversification and plenty of upside while smoothing out the ride. The value and international stocks pay decent dividends.

Check out Paul Merrimen’s portfolio advice. One of these will always be up and total returns are better than putting all of your eggs in the S&P 500 basket.

And pay someone for tax strategy

You're only 40 with family of 6, what are your plans for the next 25 years? I'm assuming you'll be footing some college funding, or something until the kids truly leave the nest.
A million bucks isn't as strong as it used to be, but You're in a great position.
Yes, I recommend you interview with a fiduciary financial advisor. You can show them your information and receive their recommendation for a one time fee. Personally, I wouldn't let them invest for me, I'd just pay for their written recommendation and invest myself.
I suggest you place most of your cash in a short term CD for 3, 4, or 6 months. I'm currently getting 4% for 6 months. Use the 6 months to research what direction you may want to go.

I've purchased small office units that insurance and small businesses rent. You drive by these types of places all the time. Little office condo type units where they share common parking and landscape, but you own a single unit out of maybe 15 or20. Maybe pick up a couple with 20% down. Research this angle. My past experience is maintenence is very low and you can evict easy and quick. I've never had to, and always had great tenants. Home rental investments suck big time. Remember, in real estate investing the trick is to leverage your down payment into the overall value of the units. The units must pay all cost, provide you with some annual profit, and appreciate in value while it pays for itself.

After you've determined what direction you're going part of that direction should include Keeping 6- 8 months worth of your personal bills and costs in available cash. You probably already know this.

Research how to invest for kids college funding. I'm not sure the programs available today, but keep in mind you'll want the most flexible and option to access that college money if kids don't go, or you need it for something else.

Seems like you're hard working, wise, thoughtful just for bringing up your topic, and most of all, you and your family are capable of living within your means.

Good luck and figure out what you're going to do for the next 25 years.

Eta....SaintsTigers a couple of posts above has a good layout. If you're an active trader and enjoy monitoring and re-balancing you could go this route.
My version might be
1) set aside your 6 months bill paying money, off the table.
2) if you're not an active trader, go with a retirement date mutual fund with a date of about 2055.
3)Of the available amount for investment, after the set aside, I suggest 20% in real estate if possible, and the remaining 80% in step 2.

One more edit, dang it.....I wouldn't put a penny of this money in the stock market until the SCOTUS rules on President Trump's tariffs. It could be as early as January, or drag on until summer.

My Fidelity money market has a ytd return of 3.72% and 7day yield of 3.69% what will it be next month after the fed cuts a quarter? Little credit union down the street is 4%. Now this is just for 3-6 months and part of the reasoning for cd is to slow the roll on the reinvestment, sleep on it time and also wait out the tariff decision. No requirement or need to strike fast.

As for my remark about home rental investment sucks, it's based strictly on my experience owning 3 homes for rent. Keep in mind this isn't my job and I had a full time demanding job. I had a property management company dealing with the issues and I think they did a great job. I was well satisfied with their work. What sucks is
Appliances breaking,
Painting and carpeting every 4-5 years,
Dealing with HOAs
Paying HOAs
Families are involved.
Just constant decision after decision on how and when to spend money on units one way or another.

Transitioned from homes to office condos.
Property manager deals with everything.
Less of everything to break.
No kids or pets in the place.
Professional atmosphere inside so they keep things nice.
You can change the locks and hold inside stuff almost immediately for nonpayment compared to somebody's home.

I'm not selling anything but this was and has been a sideline experience, not my job. Overall, to me, home rentals sucked compared to office rentals.

Do you have anything for the OP?

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YOLO’ing the entirety of your investable assets into the S&P is reckless.

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He's early 40s. VTSAX is extremely safe.

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avoid RE at this time

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Curious as to why as well. I just bought a fully occupied 4plex that in a vacuum (always rented and no repairs) I'll make 20% annually ROI after paying the mortgage, insurance, and taxes.

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I'd buy VT instead to add international exposure. That would probably be even safer.

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nah just let the currency risk ride man. They’ve got it all figured out.

You're doing great and there's a lot of good advice here.

What do you have set aside for your kids? Any amount you throw at your oldest today will have almost doubled by the time they're 18 if historical trends/Rule of 72 are any indication. 529s can be a good option. The new 530As (the Trump accounts) look attractive too.