I had a loosely similar experience, and here are a few things I would recommend based on what I did, and wish I had done:
Tell as few people as possible, preferably just your immediate family. Resist the urge to talk about it with friends and associates. This includes offering to buy every acquaintance drinks or dinner. Pretend nothing has changed.
Designate a percentage as money you will not touch... ever. Find a financial planner, which you trust, and have them help you identify low risk investments. Then, forget about this portion.
I don't know how old you are, but assuming you are not at retirement age, begin considering your next move. Consider options that don't require 2mil to get started. ;)
This doesn't mean you can't take a well-deserved break, but don't talk yourself into early retirement. This may be more difficult than it seems, so seek motivation in this area wherever you can find it. The fact is, 2mil is certainly nice, but if you stop now, you'll go through it quicker than you think. Treat it as a cushion, not a windfall.
The only way to get that is by taking significant principal risk ("junk" bonds or equity investments). 30 year US treasury bonds are only yielding 3.54%, and everything less than 3 years is <1% [1]. The highest yielding US$ CD I could find [2] was 4.3%, and the highest CDN$ GIC looks to be 4.3% [3].
Also, remember inflation - it really eats into it.. Let's say you're 30 and expect to live to 75. Even with a modest 2.5% inflation rate, your effective income will be <1/3 of what you started with by the end.
Also, in the long run money market accounts and CDs tend to not even make up for inflation.
That doesn't mean it's not possible to retire on $2M, especially if you are middle-aged and don't have dependents. If you are young, live in a relatively affluent area in North America and are yet to start a family, forget about it.
Running Monte Carlo simulations with typical stock/bond returns and volatility, the max safe withdrawal rate is usually put at 2%-4%. This really depends on how you factor in inflation.
(Of course, what is "typical"? In 2007, what we saw in 2008 certainly wouldn't have been seen as typical.)
I had a loosely similar experience, and here are a few things I would recommend based on what I did, and wish I had done:
Tell as few people as possible, preferably just your immediate family. Resist the urge to talk about it with friends and associates. This includes offering to buy every acquaintance drinks or dinner. Pretend nothing has changed.
Designate a percentage as money you will not touch... ever. Find a financial planner, which you trust, and have them help you identify low risk investments. Then, forget about this portion.
I don't know how old you are, but assuming you are not at retirement age, begin considering your next move. Consider options that don't require 2mil to get started. ;)
This doesn't mean you can't take a well-deserved break, but don't talk yourself into early retirement. This may be more difficult than it seems, so seek motivation in this area wherever you can find it. The fact is, 2mil is certainly nice, but if you stop now, you'll go through it quicker than you think. Treat it as a cushion, not a windfall.
Good luck!