Matt Krantz, usatoday.com: Getting a lump sum of cash is a huge help financially. But it can also be a bit of a burden putting all that money to work at the same time. The first place to start after getting a large sum of money at one time is examining your debt situation. If you’re carrying any high-cost debt, think credit cards, that’s the best place to start. Pay that down. And it’s a good time, too, to make sure you have an emergency fund built. You should have at least six months of living expenses in cash. After getting all your cash needs in place, then you can think about investing the rest. The best place to start – as always – is to size up your taste for risk. There’s no one-size-fits-all portfolio or stock and trying to find one will only frustrate you. A very basic place to start would to take your age and put that percentage of your portfolio into a bond exchange-trade fund, like Vanguard’s Total Bond Market ETF (BND). You could put the rest in an ETF that tracks the S&P 500, like the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY). To maximize your returns, you might consider portfolios with emerging markets, international, beat up “value” stocks and small cap stocks.