I’m not clear as to how you are “receiving” this money but I’m pretty certain that if you put any of the qualified plan money into (convert) a Roth IRA you’ll have to pay income tax on it. Then you’ll have to wait 5 years (I think) before you can take it out. If it were 10 years until you needed the money then converting to a Roth might be a good idea.
Personally, I’d roll the money into an IRA Rollover account (Fidelity has one). Then inside the IRA you could put it into a money market account…that is a conservative way to go.
I’d suggest you post that at the Fairmark message board…they have good tax advice on stuff like this:
I will be receiving $162,000 for 50% of a 401K plan, $43,000 for 50% of a pension plan along with $58,000 for 50% sale of personal residence. I cannot touch the 401K or pension funds for four years until I am 59 1/2. I have been told that all of the funds should be but into a money market account by a financial advisor and then spread into different accounts but someone else said that they should go directly into a Roth IRA instead of a regular IRA.
I would like to start investing in real estate but am afraid of losing a great deal of the principal to taxes by moving the monies into the wrong type of account in the beginning.