well first of all you'd pay taxes to the IRS and so you'd get a lot less. then if you have a lot left ($50,000 today isn't a lot ofmoney) you'd go to an attorney that specializes in investments and they will put together a portfolio for you and that would consist of things like land, gold and silver, stocks, bonds, maybe save part of it for your education.

Your best bet would be to save it for a home or for retirement and a tiny part for education and put the money into a "safe" account wherein you could use it over the years to borrow against for any need that comes up where you need a loan. I think that's your best bet.

Real Estate, like buying and renting them out. If you have small amount of money you can buy precious metal, certain type of wine, rare coins and stamps, baseball cards. And if you are rich, you can invest into private REIT, hedge funds and private equity.

Also, you can combine your capital and labor by investing into a new business such buying/repairing and sell used items.