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$200k in an IRA, unallocated. What's the safest investment?
Note that long term you need to plan for possible inflation, so "a little bit of return"  generally wants to be at least high enough to offset that plus "a little bit". Which is why just shoving it in a bank, while extremely safe, isn't usually the best choice.   You need to make some decisions about how you trade off risk versus return, whether you will comfortable riding out a downturn while waiting for recovery, and so on. My standard advice, as someone else who knows how little he knows: It's worth spending a few hundred of those dollars to talk to a real financial planner. (NOT someone who has any interest in selling you particular products, like a broker or agent!) They can help you ask yourself the right questions about comfort and goals and timeframe to pick a strategy which suits your needs. It won't be "exciting", but it sounds luke you agree with me that this shouldn't be exciting and "market rate of return" (about 8% annually, long term) is generally good enough, with more conservative positions as you approach the point of needing that money.