There is no point buying-to-rent if you already rent unless you either live in a city where it's arguably cheaper to rent than buy (SF is an example) or u don't

There is no point buying-to-rent if you already rent unless you either live in a city where it's arguably cheaper to rent than buy (SF is an example) or u don't want to settle. Buying to live in is always the best return because you have no renters to deal with and what used to go on rent now partly goes on capital. If u don't want to buy a place, a portfolio of managed funds, perhaps some individual stocks and also bonds/commodities would be a good mix. But $200k is a lot of money and its what financial advisers are for. You would gain a lot from going to see an independent financial advisor and paying him $500-$1000 to create a long term plan for you -- which might include tax efficient schemes like putting some of this into a 401(k) etc. On the issue of investing in website: as tech people it's something we all know and it's therefore attractive. However it's unlikely u'd get attractive terms investing in a proven business and going down the venture/angel route is very risky and usually pursued by people with a much bigger personal wealth. Its also easy to get sucked into spending more time than u intended on these investments because its your profession - which then reduces your return because you are essentially "working".