[DesertCat]

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One thing I was thinking about was investing the money in some sort of fund or IRA (Roth?) where I could somehow withraw the money before retirement to buy a piece of property as an investment.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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A mutual fund and an IRA are two different things. An IRA is a personal retirement account that you control. With the funds you place in it you can typically buy shares in mutual funds, individual stocks, or even individual bonds.

A SEP-IRA is a way of taking income (and employer contributions) and putting it in IRA without paying any taxes on it. You only pay taxes when you withdraw.

A Roth-IRA is a way of paying taxes on income now, and putting the after tax dollars into in an IRA and never paying taxes on it again (assuming gov. doesn't change rules).

If you withdraw from a regular IRA before retirement age, you will pay income taxes on the withdrawal, and you will pay a 10% penalty on top. I think there is an exception for investment property that you don't live in. IRA's also have limitations on how much money you can put in them depending upon your income level. Three are tons of details and everything I wrote here might be wrong, so you should consult a real tax advisor for advice before proceeding.

Lastly, since you appear to be an investing novice, if you want to invest money for the long term (i.e. 5 years or more) you should just buy a good (low cost) index fund. It will match the market's return, without any work by you. Vanguard is a prime provider of good index funds. You should never buy a fund that has a sales load (charge), either on purchase or sale.