I know it might be a bad idea asking for advice on here because people will try to pump their bags,
but I am hoping there are a couple of coins that stand out from the rubbish that will be suggested
Thank you for having still some faith on this community. I'm happy that you are having good understanding about this community as most people here are suggesting just count on their posts or based on where they have already invested but not really based on some analysis and researches they have done before. My simple suggestion is, invest into highly reputed coins but not purely based on coinmarketcap. Take your own time and google for more reviews and studies so that you can conclude for your own list of coins.
Also invest to neo and eos who possible to become hundred dollars or thousand of dollars.
Like you mentioned about ethereum, both neo and eos also having unique concepts to keep attracting investors. For diversification purposes, we may go for these coins too along with ethereum investments. Having more options for the case of investments is always very important.