Many of you are aware that my FIL passed away a few months ago, leaving a bit of a financial mess (still working on that), but also some positives - life insurance and pension. In working through options for my MIL, I came up with a plan, and my brother-in-law consulted his financial advisor. Another person MIL works with also recommended a financial advisor.
She will have 22K rollover from the pension, plus 40-50K of life insurance $ to invest. She has not invested before and wants everything to be as simple as possible. She won't need the $ for at least 10 years, that we can tell, if then.
The two advisors both recommended variable annuities :  . I think we all know where we each stand on FA's and variable annuities, so no need to start that up.
My plan - put the partial lump sum into an IRA in Vanguard's total bond index. After a few months (to make sure we have a handle on her finances) put the 40-50K into Vanguard total market and international indexes. Split everything so it's something like 40% bonds, 45% total market, and 15% international. She will work for a few more years, so we can keep putting 5K annually into the IRA, which will help the AA (she will likely save additional money in the taxable accounts as well). If she gets too stock-heavy, I'd look at a tax-exempt bond fund.
I know, I know, no variable annuities. My question is, how does my plan sound? I am 99% confident that I can explain to MIL and BIL why this will be better. But first I want to make sure I'm not forgetting something! (She will also have a separate emergency fund, which we all agree should go into a money market).
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