Fooldom teaches to expect an 11% return over time from an S&P 500 index fund. That is a long term average. In the '90s 20 to 30% returns for the index became common, but that seems unlikely for the next year or so. So the best you can do is make the investment and hope for some good years to help you reach your goals.

You probably can do better than average if you are a good stock picker. That would require spotting the investments likely to do well, and then learning when to get out (usually the hard part). Playing high fliers can cause some losses, much worse than you'll get in the S&P Index.

So I would invest most of the funds in an S&P Index fund and hope for the best. You could put a portion into some more promising investments and see how you do. Perhaps you will have the skills to do much better, but don't risk all your funds in this way until you have some successes under your belt.

Best of luck to you.