Suppose you won a $2 Million (after taxes) jackpot in a state lottery. Assume for the purposes of discussion, that there are no fees associated with the transfer of these funds into your own personal financial institutions, that the funds are free of any contingencies, and that you can utilize them immediately as you see fit. You look out into the marketplace for potential opportunities, where you, as the Savvy Investor, can grow your newly-acquired capital. What sorts of questions are you going to ask? Where would you look for opportunity? What kind of information would you need to make the soundest judgment? Once you have conducted your analyses, how would you ultimately come to a decision on how to deploy your capital? Not to beleaguer the point, but again, try to keep your discussions at a conceptual level. The point of this exercise is not so much to construct and analyze a given scenario or thought experiment but to think about the basic tools you need to make the most informed decision possible.