Well, you could be like me; nearly 50 with no job-based pension, because...no job. I will be living hand to mouth for the remainder of my life, and when social security becomes available to me, on a meager $800 a month. Like, 1/2 of Americans in my age group and older, there are those of us who were not fortunate to ever have access to such a large sum.

I would definitely secure your money into an IRA or something safe like that. Stay away from financial investors -- they're all crooks. They'll steal your money a la Bernie Madoff.

Do a fixed annuity. That's what my mother lived off of after my father's death. She put his life insurance money into a fixed annuity and received payments from it to live off. Now she's secure in a nursing home that costs $5-7K a month, that she can't afford, but secured through an elderly waiver from the county.

You have a huge chunk of money. Avoid investors but talk to a financial planner about a fixed annuity.