If you suddenly inherited $250,000, how specifically would you handle it?

[DadJokes]

A long time ago I made a financial plan with an advisor. One of the things he did, (he was a free advisor) was make a list which states in order where you put excess money The idea is, that if you get a windfall you implement your list versus being tempted to make a new inground pool jump the line. 

Vague memory my list was
any debts
top off emergency funds
up contributing at work to max.
travel fund (now this would be travel and house fund).
And, I don't think I got past this.

So for me, go ahead and pay off my car and work loan (somewhere around 8K)
Top off a healthy emergency fund (8K) as well as create a 3K travel fund. I would take enough leave time to visit Greece for a couple weeks.
Even though not on my list I might go ahead and pay off my house too (47K). that would psychologically allow me to feel financially free. And allow me to max or near max contributions until retirement.
That leaves me with 184K.
To me, that's a lot of money. I would want to gift my sister some money to get some really needed dental work. I don't know how much, say 20K max. I would also want to help my lil brother out (around the same amount) just because he's a great guy who has had lots of bad breaks. I would have to figure out how to do that without impacting his daughter's financial aid for college.
Then 144K leftover. Roll the rest in retirement. I have around a 65/35 stock/bond mix right now.

Things I'd like to do but probably won't: buy rental property for income. Like the idea, but see how expensive/time consuming houses are just with my one.   

Convert the attic of my house into a master suite/flex space/studio apartment. One of those things I also daydream about. But not really cost effective unless I actually rent it out or sell my house.
Private school for my youngest daughter. Emotionally I would want to do this. But i think it is a better idea for me to be more financially independent now, so I can a) segue to part time at some point, and b) be in a financial position to help her when she is an adult. Regardless I would fund her tutoring, supportive help while she is in school, and any trade, technical school after HS.   

though it doesn't sound like it would be, that amount of money would be life changing. It would be immediately life changing by reducing money-related stress. It would be life-changing long term because after working 5 years at my present job, I would be confident to go down to a 32 hour work week til retirement. How that would feel, I can't explain.

Making a list of priorities with excess money is such a good idea, even with small amounts. Last month, we received about $1,500 more than planned thanks to a business trip and unexpected test fee reimbursement. $1,200 of that was spent on something that would have been at the top of the list, but the other $300 just disappeared throughout the budget.

[Wintergreen78]

I inherited a little more than that a few years ago. I gave myself permission to have a custom bicycle made for about $4,500. It was something I could easily afforded without the inheritance, but had always seemed extravagant. It is a really nice bike.

With the rest, I did nothing for six months, then invested it according to my desired asset allocation. It bumped my retirement date up by a few years.

[Fish Sweet]

Assuming no additional taxes in play, 250k would put me at an amount juuuuust before lean!FIRE, but I would probably continue working for another three years or so, maxing out 401ks and padding out the 'stache in VTSAX before flying free.

I'd probably spring for Lasik, though.

[BTDretire]

First I'd see if there was anyway to transfer the win over to my kids, (let them pay the taxes)
 If not, I'd try to gift the max each year to the kids until it was gone. All with the idea that it was not to be spent but invested. (VTSAX)
Although this would be impossible, as I have one in school that is already getting the max gift and it is still not
enough to cover tuition.

What is this "max gift" that you speak of?

I see someone else has answered, but here's more info.
"The IRS also confirmed that the annual gift exclusion amount for 2019 remains at $15,000 per individual per year, unchanged from 2018. This means you can give $15,000 to as many people you want (me, for instance) each year without filing a gift tax return."
 Or, mom and dad can give $30k to a daughter and another $30k to the son-in-law. I was a little behind, I was still at $14k.
https://www.posticbates.com/blog/estate-and-gift-tax-limits-2019
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=maximum+gift+amount+2019

[John Galt incarnate!]

A long time ago I made a financial plan with an advisor. One of the things he did, (he was a free advisor) was make a list which states in order where you put excess money The idea is, that if you get a windfall you implement your list versus being tempted to make a new inground pool jump the line. 

Vague memory my list was
any debts
top off emergency funds
up contributing at work to max.
travel fund (now this would be travel and house fund).
And, I don't think I got past this.

So for me, go ahead and pay off my car and work loan (somewhere around 8K)
Top off a healthy emergency fund (8K) as well as create a 3K travel fund. I would take enough leave time to visit Greece for a couple weeks.
Even though not on my list I might go ahead and pay off my house too (47K). that would psychologically allow me to feel financially free. And allow me to max or near max contributions until retirement.
That leaves me with 184K.
To me, that's a lot of money. I would want to gift my sister some money to get some really needed dental work. I don't know how much, say 20K max. I would also want to help my lil brother out (around the same amount) just because he's a great guy who has had lots of bad breaks. I would have to figure out how to do that without impacting his daughter's financial aid for college.
Then 144K leftover. Roll the rest in retirement. I have around a 65/35 stock/bond mix right now.

Things I'd like to do but probably won't: buy rental property for income. Like the idea, but see how expensive/time consuming houses are just with my one.   

Convert the attic of my house into a master suite/flex space/studio apartment. One of those things I also daydream about. But not really cost effective unless I actually rent it out or sell my house.
Private school for my youngest daughter. Emotionally I would want to do this. But i think it is a better idea for me to be more financially independent now, so I can a) segue to part time at some point, and b) be in a financial position to help her when she is an adult. Regardless I would fund her tutoring, supportive help while she is in school, and any trade, technical school after HS.   

though it doesn't sound like it would be, that amount of money would be life changing. It would be immediately life changing by reducing money-related stress. It would be life-changing long term because after working 5 years at my present job, I would be confident to go down to a 32 hour work week til retirement. How that would feel, I can't explain.

May I say, alleviative?

[BigMoneyJim]

Since I already have plans and am somewhere between able to semi-retire and a few years away from not expecting to need income ever again, I know where my next $250k is going, and it would be a delight to get it all at once.

Although I'd probably be miffed at whoever had that much dough and was hiding that from me, not because they owed it to me, but all the people I could think of that I might inherit from have places that money needs to go for them or their obligations.

But since I have a plan, the default is now 80% broad stock fund with low ER, probably ETF, and 20% U.S. bond index, again low ER, probably ETF. But probably minus some cash to bring me up to two years' expenses as with a sudden extra $250k I'd have well more than one foot out the door of full-time work.

I've only recently gone to 80/20 from 60/40 after getting the exact benefits coming from my pension, estimates from SS, and their being close enough that I have more confidence they'll still be there when I reach them. The annuitized income will keep me above poverty level by itself which makes portfolio survivability much less worrisome, so I'm upping the risk. Up until quite recently my favorite vehicle was VG Wellington, and I still have substantial monies there, in fact I haven't got rid of any. But in other places I got out of copycat balanced funds and into cheap index funds and skewed the balance close to 80% stocks overall, but I'm counting cash along with my bonds as the other 20% when setting AA for now.

(I'm not the pay-off-the-mortgage type.)

[Monocle Money Mouth]

This is a good thought experiment. It could conceivably happen if you received an inheritance. I would probably just DCA $200,000 of it into my brokerage account and keep $50,000 in my savings account to pay for next year’s Roth IRA contribution, build a new garage, replace my front porch, upgrade my electrical service so I can charge an electric car, and keep some money around for when I buy an electric car.

[Linea_Norway]

We will probably receive this amount twice somewhere in the next 2-3 decades. The first one may come soonish. I think we would just buy more index funds in an after tax fund. We have already saved up enough FIRE stash to FIRE next year, so it would just be an extra bonus.

We might also spend a part of it on a replacement car if our current car at that moment would function badly.

If we would receive it today, I would deliver my resignation letter this month. That would mean FIRE in September.