re: What to do w/ $500,000

If interest rate on student loans is above 6-7% I'd pay it off.

After that, I'd fund retirement tax advantaged accounts next. Max IRAs and 401ks etc. You may need to use some of the inheritance to live on while bumping up contributions.

Careful if you go the advisor route. Many are salesmen and will try to persuade you to buy high fee products that arent best for you like whole life insurance, annuities or loaded mutual funds. They will also most often charge a % of assets under management which even at 1% will often cost you something like 25% of final balance after 20-30 years. I prefer self managing and buying low expense ratio index funds.

Finally, how are these funds being inherited? Is it an inherited retirement account or just funds from estate?