This is a two part question:
a) I soon will inherit $250,000. not having any idea with what to do
with all this money; should I purchase real estate like everyone I
know, or should I purchase google stocks or invest in wall street, or
should I start my own business, or simply buy an existing business
which leads me to part two of my question:
b) thinking about getting into the food/franchise business, what are a
few coffee, deli, eatery, ice cream or candy shop concepts worth
looking into, or how should I research to better understand the
successful restaurant franchise concepts that are on the market?

Send it to me and I will do the worrying for us both.

I take PayPal.

hey, that's not funny...I am serious!

hai 
It would be nice if u share it with people(children) who are in
desperate need of money.
You will feel good though u may be reluctant to do so initially.
Best regards
arun

Wallen, 

The food business is highly risky financially. If it's only a wild
idea, not a lifelong dream, it seems to me that it is best left aside.
There are many other - more secure - lines of business.

Regarding your question, this might help a little: 
Investing
<http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=66488>

1) Real Estate should be good. Consider the Los Vegas as the best bet
I know. Last year the real estate market in Los Vegas appreciated by
53%. What more do you look for.

2) Dukin Donuts should be good. It has 100 - 200% profits for ur investments. 

Best of luck

the best business for you would be to buy 1000 profit centers at
http://goldrushusa.com/usa

the cost would be one time 75,000
a week later your upline will receive 45,000

s/he will invest them back in you, so every profit center
will cost you $30 only.

from your matrix you will make $58,000 every single month, for life time.

in the rest of the money and with the profits buy some Real Estate.

all the best

silvergold

Don't worry you will probably spend the lot within 72 days:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=416150

$250k is not a lot of money

Do you have a mortgage ?

As for research, the grittiest way of learning about anything is
working in the posterior end. Go work for someone with a franchise.

The thing to remember that 250k ( or GBP 130k ) is not exactly Rockefeller cash.
Buy real estate - and live in it - or act as janitor.

If you suddenly find you need capital, you can always get a mortgage.

There are quite a few responses here that I wouldnt go anywhere near,
but that's just me. Also I find the question almost too general, but
then I like a lot of context. Of what's been said I suppose a mixture
of real estate and google might make sense but in google's case you'd
need to spot any early warning signs of a <a
href="http://whatwillgoogledo.blogspot.com/">change of character and
open agency trust</a>- let us hope it never does lose its do no evil
systemnisation of relationshps it compounds.

I would say to any investor- invest in something you love and care
about but which a friend sanity checks. You seem to be talking about a
long-term horizon; the only ones that compound that way come from
knowing and caring enough to ensure whomever manager really cares
about the context. Why I'd sanity check is that if people run into the
fiorst thing that most matches their vision of what lifes all about
they sometimes choose something that others dont value anywhere near
as much as they think they will.

<quote>
invesors will likely double their money in a few months.  
</quote>

That is /exactly/ the sort of thing to avoid.
Anything that good would never be touted on the internet.

The first step I would recommend is to pay off any debts (if you have any). 
I would be cautious of investing in real estate. I keep hearing
interest rates will rise and people are getting deeper into debt.
However, if you would be buying a place to call home, I can't argue
with that...

As far as the food/franchise business, if it's something you're
passionate about and think you'll be successful with, then go for it.
I don't know much about it, but I can tell you I've seen a lot of ice
cream shops for sale in the past few weeks.

I'm suprised nobody has said "diversify" yet.

If you really don't have anything you want to spend it on, see a
financial advisor or just invest it in something safe until you figure
out what to do with it. Maybe just keep it for retirement? The weak
dollar concerns me somewhat, so I would probably invest a little
overseas for security.

Good luck with whatever you choose! And don't feel rushed to spend it,
opportunities come and go.

$250k is a lot of money. Seek a financial advisor and remember to
diversify. Each person is different, some are more risk averse than
others. On one end of the spectrum lies high risk/ high return. On the
other lies low risk/low return. If you are young you can approach the
high risk end and still have plenty of time to recover if you get beat
up. If you are older then you should probably stay low risk because if
you lose it then you don't have the time available to recover. Just
basic investment advise. Go to a financial planner for the details.

With rare exceptions successful investors and interpenurs learned in
the "school of hard knocks" so you should diversify widely so to avoid
loosing most of your  money or worse aquiring a large debt. Paying off
any high interest debts should be your first priority. You should put
some money in a 401k, or equivelent.
 Personally, I have little confidence in investment councellors, but
one that gets fees from results would be preferable, if there are any
with credentials that don't ask for up front money.  Neil

Yes, I think I know what you should do.
Ever heard of Rule 70 : 30 ?
Put 70 % of your money in safest investments ( like Govt bonds)
Put 30 % in speculative risks.
70 % of this 30 % in mutual funds for index funds of equities, and 30
% in equities proper.
folow this Golden rule and you will always make a profit!
regards,
cheyuta

you should not let the money disturb your peaceful life, so just do as
if you don't have that money.you can buy long term gov bond or index
investment to have fixed return in the long run, and continue your
existing life, you should reach your goal by yourself, so you can just
saved that money for your eldly life.

Be warned: Buy gold and silver soon!

While $250k is a lot of money, it's really not much to start a
business on, especially if you are looking at a franchise business. 
Additionally, it takes a lot more than money to be successful in
business.  You must be passionate about what you are doing.  If you
aren't willing to put at least 12 hours per day, six days per week
into your business, it probably won't work out.  Since it doesn't look
like you have a particular business that you are passionate about, I
would avoid going into business for yourself.

The best advice that I could give you would be to seek out a certified
financial planner (they have the CFP designation).  Make sure that
they are a fee based rather than a commission based planner.  A fee
based planner makes their money from a either a flat fee or a fee that
is a percentage of the assets under management.  A commission based
planner is one that makes a commission on the products that he/she
sells to you, so they may not be working in your best interest.

Any financial advice you receive here will be inadequate because you
have not told us much about who you are. Do you need this money to
live on when you retire, or can you earn more? Do you have specific
spending needs in the near future, such as tuition for yourself or for
your children? How old are you? How much risk can you stand to take?
How much can you afford to take? Without answers to these and other
questions nobody can give you a proper answer.

So I will give you a general answer, and you will have to figure out
for yourself how much of this applies to you:

You should diversify your holdings broadly. You do not want to have
all of your money in a single investment. Any investment has risk, and
there is some real and livable probability that you will lose a large
chunk of that investment. The solution is to spread your money out
over a lot of different investments--win some, lose some, overall you
come out OK.

I have written an article on Exchange Traded Funds, for Canadian
investors, on a site dedicated to Canadian RRSP's and mutual funds
(http://www.efficientmarket.ca/) but there should be much that you can
learn from it on this subject:

    http://www.efficientmarket.ca/article/ETF_Investing
     
Also, you should consider splitting your money between stocks and bonds:

    http://www.efficientmarket.ca/article/Stocks-Or-Bonds

This last article also includes some advice on just how much you
should put into stocks (risky) versus bonds (safe). There are relevant
questions about what you can stand to lose and what you can afford to
lose rather than what is simply the best investment.

I'm assuming you are American, in which case I would recommend you to
the Vanguard group of funds rather than the list of ETFs I recommend
to Canadian investors in the above articles. They're the cheapest, and
should serve you well.