Standard investment advice is that you should invest in a diversified mix of stocks, bonds, and money market funds. If you are like most people you will invest part of your money aggressively in stocks, and part conservatively in money market funds and bond funds. However, some young people will go all stocks, and some very conservative people will go all money markets. The links below have on-line questionnaires which will give you an idea of how to do "Asset Allocation," determining how much to put in each type of investment.
You want to buy a diversified portfolio of stocks as individual stocks are too risky. Highly knowledgeable people can buy a properly balanced portfolio, but most folks have a difficult time balancing things on their own. They will misbalance their portfolio by buying all small stocks or all growth stocks, or some other misbalanced assortment of stocks. Back in 2000, Some people bought all Internet stocks; they got burnt when they all crashed together. You have to diversify across industries. Unless you know what you are doing, it is best to buy mutual funds that will diversify for you. Buy no-load, low cost funds. Mutual funds should have expense ratios of less than 0.5%.
If your company offers a 401K plan at work, try to invest the most you can. The money grows tax free, and some companies will match your contribution. Investing in a mutual fund IRA is also a good idea. If you have children, you may want to consider a 529 plan or other college savings plan that grows tax free.
I like index funds. Because of their broad diversification, you are less likely to have a dramatic drop in value. They also have the lowest expenses. For stock funds, I would suggest putting ~70-80% of your money in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. and ~20-30% in a foreign stock index fund. However, there are many different opinions out there on what the best mutual funds are. Read the links below and form your own opinion.
If you have high-interest debt, like credit cards, it is best to pay this off first before trying most of the investment ideas above. You should also have 3-6 months of salary saved up as an emergency fund in a bank or money market fund before trying more risky investments.
I will warn you that there is a tremendous amount of stock investing books and websites that teach stock investing strategies that don't work. Particularly bad are people that teach "technical analysis" systems that sound impressive, but don't work.
Believing advice you get on Yahoo answers can be risky, so read these websites for further information. If you find it too confusing, contact a professional financial advisor. They will charge you significant commissions, however.
There are many investment options as you may know, and there are many types of investors. Would you be content with nearly tripling your money in 20ish years? Probably.
I would invest this money in CD's. Jumbo CD's to date (OCT2009) are handing out a 4% interest rate. That first year, you make about $6900 (compounding). Without doing all of the compounding math, that is more than $170k interest earned after 20 years. That is at least $350000 guaranteed by the time you are about 58.
Note: I am severely underestimating the figures. While your initial investment renders around $6900 the first year, when your balance is $200k it renders $8000. When it is $300k, it renders $12000.
Good luck
Your investment strategy depends greatly on what the purpose of the money. Why are you investing?
If you're looking to put money away for retirement, you have 30+ years to accumulate and can be fairly aggressive. I'd go with a mix (50/50) of large companies and small companies. Have the dividends reinvested.
If you're seeking current income, and can't afford to lose the money, I'd go with 50% municipal bonds, 25% corporate bonds, and 25% large companies with high dividends. If you can be more aggressive, I'd add more high dividend paying stocks. Bond funds might also be good here.
If you're seeking specific companies you might want to consider:
McDonalds large cap good dividend
Paychecks large cap good dividend
Teva large cap
Activision much growth potential
Hawkens micro cap decent dividend with much growth potential
This is by no means all the stocks you should consider, just the ones off the top of my head. Do NOT put all your money into one investment. Spread it out over several. Good luck.
A filmmaker that knows what they are doing. None of that $80 million dollar budget stuff. It's no wonder they can't recoup that.
But someone who works efficiently and has the skills to get stuff done, as well as tell a solid story.
1-Gold and Silver
2-Bad economy means unemployment means more government assistance means take advantage.
3-I'll make yr $150k $200k in less than a year!
In the coming years, I'd recommend stable, dividend-paying companies, high quality bonds, commodities and emerging markets to weather inflation and slow growth in the US.
What's your pain threshold?
Little risk? Municipal bonds.
Moderate to high risk? Mutual funds.