I see several of our Really Smart People have already responded with specifics, so I want to focus on something else: What question are you asking? You say you want to just put your money in something and leave it there. But then you say you want to find the "best thing for me". I posit that "you" are a moving target, and what is "best" for "you" is going to change over time. In addition, at some times some financial vehicles will make you more money, and some will make you less, and you could even lose money in others. So I suggest you think deeply about the question you actually want answered. Reading your post, I would think it goes something like this: "I got a gift of money. I do not want this gift to lose value. I want to find a way to safely, and passively, invest the money so it becomes more money." You want to keep the gift safe. You know money can make more money, if invested. So you want to invest it in something that has a reasonable return. Something guaranteed. Anything guaranteed is going to lock your money away and make it inaccessible for a period of time. The longer you can be without it, the more you will make on it. So think about those factors, and what your particular "settings" are for those variables. That will help the Smart People of Hubski guide you in a direction that meets your needs.
Much appreciated. Everyone has been giving me the answer I needed to the question that was between the lines, which is pretty much "chill out, leave it alone until you feel confident about a decision." I know my post is a little hot mess, I def wasn't expecting a concrete like "here's what you should do," but you're right that I wasn't even concise about what my end game is supposed to be. I appreciate you letting me know, I need to ask better questions.
Just to be clear, I am not calling you out for "asking a bad question." My intent was to drive some self-reflection into your request, and inspire you to dig a little deeper into your thinking about what you really want to have happen with this money. I saw "just don't want to mess with it" and "best for me" to be somewhat contradictory requirements. The money markets are constantly changing, so "best for me" is going to change over time. Possibly several times within a single year. So by getting more solid about your goals with the money, you can also make the best use of the smarski's feedback and ideas... :-) I appreciate you letting me know, I need to ask better questions...
I totally understand, by better questions I mean I need to figure out like, "what can I do?" and also communicate my goals better (though clearly you can already tell I'm a bit lacking that department :) ). I'm glad the conversation here has gone in multiple directions cause what I want to do is def influenced by what I can do and people are bringing up a few things that I hadn't considered. I see what you're saying about those seeming contradictory, I simply meant even if I choose to let it sit somewhere so I don't have to actively do anything, what is the best way for me to do that? Is an index fund the right way? What is a money market? Please don't worry about answering those, I'm just trying to wrap my head around the gaps in my understanding. Once I feel like I have a more solid footing, I will definitely be coming back to query the hive :) Also, thanks for the response, I really do appreciate it!
Another "don't overthink it" observation: Women typically outperform men when it comes to investing because they simply don't fuck with it so much. Most investment professionals will tell you to rebalance your portfolio yearly. Fucking with it every six months can do damage even if you know what you're doing. I mean, sure - have some money to play with (I play with fake money, real money is too dear) but leave that shit alone for the most part.