The very first thing I'd do is talk with a good accountant or tax lawyer. Ideally you'd have done this prior to selling the company, and maybe you did and the 5m is after taxes.
In any case, if it were me, I'd put $1m into an inflation protected security like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasury_security#TIPS. That gives you enough money to cover yourself if things go otherwise awry.
I'd decide where I wanted to live and buy a house that I could see myself living in for 10 - 20 years for cash. Probably wouldn't spend more than 2m on that, perhaps quite a bit less.
I'd put the rest into a money market fund for the time being--low return, but very low risk, and I'd take 18-24 months to travel and see the world and figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life.
Figure that you hit the jackpot--you'll never really need to work, other than to stave off boredom--take a little time and determine how you want to spend the rest of your life. Don't worry about missing current opportunities--there will be more, especially for someone who's already had a successful exit.
In any case, if it were me, I'd put $1m into an inflation protected security like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasury_security#TIPS. That gives you enough money to cover yourself if things go otherwise awry.
I'd decide where I wanted to live and buy a house that I could see myself living in for 10 - 20 years for cash. Probably wouldn't spend more than 2m on that, perhaps quite a bit less.
I'd put the rest into a money market fund for the time being--low return, but very low risk, and I'd take 18-24 months to travel and see the world and figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life.
Figure that you hit the jackpot--you'll never really need to work, other than to stave off boredom--take a little time and determine how you want to spend the rest of your life. Don't worry about missing current opportunities--there will be more, especially for someone who's already had a successful exit.