Take all these posts into consideration, read, learn, pick and choose what is right for you.
If this happened to me, it is easy, based on my situation, how my money is setup, my debt, my work, 401k, IRA's, taxable accounts, etc - I would put the entire amount into my taxable Vanguard account buying 100% VTSAX. (thats' me based on my situation).
since the acccount was for learning, and I don't know your situation or picture - here is another suggestion to throw onto the pile; the money was for learning how to make money with money... honor that ...
break your part of the money into chucks, put some in vanguard with a 100% or 60/40 or 75/25 split on funds that you're familiar with and like... take another portion and consider lending tree... take another portion and <blank>... and so on... but don't distribute blindly..
if you don't have a plan or process that you personally follow for yourself now, it would be good to keep the cash in a money market while you develop your strategy... I built up just under 60 grand in cash (Cap One 360 account 0.75%) while reading this blog along with jlcollins and a few others... I took a little piece of information that I agreed with from each author (but never only one authors strategies), applied it to my situation (and created lots of spreadsheets) until I was so comfortable with the ideas and concepts -
From there, I not only invested the all the cash into Vangauard funds and replenished a small amount of cash back to cap one 360 account for emergencies) - I moved a number of my accounts from a different financial broker (an additional 140k) to Vanguard and it's been nothing but FREAKIN AWESOME since! (but this is what worked for me)... now you get to go through the learning process... it's a freakin blast!
the bottom line is; unless you already had a plan, it is a difficult problem to solve quickly... my plan developed over time.. I've always had the savings idea in my head, and understood simple compound interest(age 19), but didn't know how to do it right, consistently and ride out the waves. (now I'm 46 and I just now "get it")... For me, the lesson I learned was...Having a taxable account was the last piece of the puzzle for me. Before that, I saved, I fully funded my IRA, 401k, spent the rest or saved a little cash, then spent it... I never felt comfortable, always worried if I lost my job "we" the family would be ruined! and have to tap into the retirement accounts.... but having that taxable account made all the difference for my comfort level and accelerates my early retirement! Makes you ask the question; why did I know to invest in all retirement accounts, but not a taxable acccount? who knows.... never found the right influences and eduction, never saught it out... but I did now... The people on this blog really have it nailed, simplicity and badassity, but you need to build your mustache first...
for me now, the taxable account is the early retirement account... and the value of that account is calculated in "time" not dollars .... How much time will this money give me....
Steve - NWOutlier