Dear Amy: My girlfriend and I are in our late-20′s. Recently my grandfather died, and I inherited $500,000!

This came as a complete surprise and of course in addition to missing my grandfather and feeling grateful for his generosity, we are thrilled at this unexpected gift.

My girlfriend is eager to retire early. She sees this as life-changing and we are talking about the best way to spend it.

We agreed to bring this dilemma to you.

– Blessed

Dear Blessed: I appreciate your trust in me; you should trust a qualified financial adviser even more.

My reaction is: This is not your girlfriend’s money to dream about. It is yours.

One way this windfall might be “life-changing” would be for you to take a good look at your girlfriend’s reaction to it.

You should not be thinking about how to spend this money, but how to invest or save it.

This is a huge amount of money, and yet it is not even close to the amount someone your age would need to retire. (However, if you choose to, it could get you comfortably into your first home, which might be a good investment for you.)

You can email Amy Dickinson at [email protected] or send a letter to Ask Amy, P.O. Box 194, Freeville, NY 13068.