[jrjr729]

The original question had to do with investing $250k taken from the stock market. One really needs more information about you to give an answer that meets your needs. For example, is your total household net worth greater than one million dollars? If it is you may want to purchase some life insurance with part of the money to cover estate costs. It is possible Congress may not modify the estate tax allowing it to revert to the one million exemption after 2010.

Another thing how large is your portfolio? Does the $250k represent more than 50% of it? If so, and you are absolutely against owning individual stocks, I would suggest mutual funds. In that case split the money into five equal parts of $50k each and buy five different funds from the same fund family. Vanguard has pretty low expense ratios, so I would start there. Use Morningstar to help identify particular funds. Invest the money as follows: An S&P 500 index fund, A bond index fund, a technology index fund, a high yield fund and an international fund. After 12 months and one day re-evaluate and shift your fund allocation back to 20% in each fund. (If the money is in tax deferred accounts you can shift every six months since you won't have to worry about tax consequences.)

Still, I generally agree with some of the other posts that you probably shouldn't pull the money out, now. Yes, the market cold dip again but it might not. I think the worst is over and that the economy is safe. Over the next five years the markets should rebound nicely.

If you do not like your current mix of stock investments, consider becoming a bit more defensive y buying consumer staples and shifting into high dividend paying stocks.

Finally, although annuities have there place in some portfolios they might not fit in yours. After all, if you have a well funded pension that plus social security means you already have two annuities. Do you need more?