I has a monies... what I do wif?

[foal]

I'm just going to describe my situation and general plans and see if there's anything anyone thinks I should know, wants to call me an idiot about or etc.


I inherited about 130k pounds or 275k dollars. It's in mutual funds in England right now, controlled by some trust company. It's not in my name yet or something, but supposedly will be in January. I believe it just earned about 10% for the year and they're asking me (well, asking my mom, technically) what I want to do with the money. I'm not sure about that exactly, but I'll probably have them send it to my account, because I'm short on money right now and will need money next year. I'm just finishing up my last year of college and living with my parents, transcribing audio tapes occasionally for money.

After I graduate in May I want to buy a cheapish house (in one shot, no mortgage) and live with my friend for a year or two while taking some time to study poker and other things I'm interested in. Then, regardless if poker goes well for me I want to either go to graduate school in cognitive science or go into some sort of non-profit work. Sorry if this is all irrelevant information. But yeah, I also had the idea, because I've been finding some cheap (under 50k) duplexes and triplexes in the town I want to move to, of buying houses and renting them out. Smart? Obviously it depends, but I mean, potentially smart? And how would I go about researching the merits of such a purchase, besides looking at the places and getting them inspected? Also would welcome any general advice, because I don't know much about BFI.