A good way to invest is to cut your loses. Invest 1/12 of your money into your bank account. I would, personally, invest 1/2 in S&P500 because index funds mean that you own some of a company that owns some of other companies; this means that if a stock is not doing well, they will remove it from their index and replace -- and you never had to lift a finger. I personally think these are save bets and will definitely yield positively for your investment. I would finally invest in some riskier stocks for about 3/12 and with the final 1/6 I would invest in US treasury bonds -- another safe bet which will very much increase your wealth. Worst case, you probably end up with another $10,000 because you capitalized on your other investments, even if you lost 3/12 from the stocks.