[lgslgs]

I'd max out the Roth, and put the rest into fairly assertive mutual funds with at least 1/3 of it international (I personally like keeping a chunk in international emerging markets.) Go with no load funds and if you want to use it for something else after it sits there for a year you won't have a fee.

I'd actually go ahead put my 6 month emergency fund right into no load mutual funds because the odds that I'd actually have to pay the first year fee if some disaster does strike is pretty low - if your life isn't a wreck and you are managing you money well in general, you probably won't need to tap your emergency fund in the next year.

I'd steer clear of individual stocks. Just my preference.

Plan on making the max Roth contribution next year as well. Try to save it out of earnings, but consider the option of using part of this $20,000 for it. In fact, I'd most likely just save it all and trickle it into the Roth each year, and save fresh money from my earnings for things like vacations and housing. That way I wouldn't risk falling into "windfall mentality" and thinking of the $20,000 as anything but true savings.

Lynda