The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing

Just a note for OP or others reading that "Bogleheads" are those that follow a certain value investing philosophy from Vanguard founder John Bogle.

For some basic investment literacy, it would not hurt to read "The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing" (https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Lar...). I've also heard good things about John Bogle's "Little Book of Common Sense Investing" but haven't read it.

Firstly, if you want to get into investing I would highly recommend reading "The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing". It is geared more towards Vanguard, but the same investing principles apply.

Link to Amazon: https://toptalkedbooks.com/amzn/0470067365

Secondly, don't be afraid to shop around on where to invest. As posted above, Total Stock Market Index's and Target 20XX accounts are a great investment vehicle to use since the company (in this case Schwab) does all the investing into stocks and bonds for you. This is all explained in the book I posted above, as I was in the same boat and had no clue where to begin. Best of luck!

Mutual funds are probably your best bet for getting started. Super simple, instant diversification; just set it (monthly contributions), forget it, and let compound interest work. Check out this book: The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing .

If you'd like to do something more active, there's nothing wrong with that, it's just very hard to beat the market. Most professionals can't even do it consistently.

Your honesty and self-awareness are great first steps in remedying your lack of knowledge. Figuring out your goals and time horizon can actually be the hardest part of investing. It's a necessary prerequisite to actually investing though because, as you can see, your time horizon directly affects the type of investments you should consider.

I would advise plopping the money into a 6- or 9-month CD and spending that time getting yourself up to speed on some investing basics. Better to "lose" 6-9 months of investing time than to invest in a way that could potentially be hugely detrimental, especially when you have such a nice nest egg to preserve (and hopefully grow).

Here are four books and a great website to start you off:

• A Random Walk Down Wall Street
• All About Asset Allocation
• The Four Pillars of Investing
• The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing
• www.bogleheads.org/wiki