I don’t know if this is what some people would call life changing money.
safe bet: long term investment for retirement or to buy a house.
dreamer me: study the piano bachelor you always said you wanted to do, even if it’s just the bachelor, and not a master, even if you’re doing it not for the money or fame, but just because you want to play and maybe teach part time, but mostly because is something I enjoy doing, even if teaching the piano is mostly a side job to my main job.
I don’t know what to do. Feel free to read my previous post, because it’s related to this one.
The advice to invest in broad index funds is great, but there is risk. S&P500 got halved in the 2008 crisis.
The market is a long-term place to put money. You’ve got to be braced for the down years and not just starry eyed about the up years. The next crash could be Monday. Or not. Nobody really knows.
20 years from now, future you will be extremely grateful to today you for every dollar you invest in a broad index fund in the market. There’s never been a 20 year period in the market where that hasn’t been true. But that 20 years is a fucking bumpy ride. Treat your money in the market like it’s in the overhead bin and you’re in the window seat of a row full of grumpy strangers.
You’re clearly indecisive about your future plans. I think flexibility to adapt to any big life decisions, which seem looming is a key goal here.
Dave Chapelle explained it like this: “Money is the fuel for choices.” This windfall is your fuel. We can’t help you make the choices, but the money means you can make those choices now with little concern for cost or risk.
My advice:
At most invest half the money. Schwab, Fidelity, Vanguard. Pick based on the color of their logos. They’re interchangeable for you.
Put the rest into some high yield savings account that will at least keep you treading water against inflation a little bit while you make choices.
Also from reading your other post, there’s a whole giant world of exciting and captivating activities that exists outside of the university system. Kinda like clocks in casinos, sometimes that can be hard to see from inside the school world.
The peak of 2007 was reached again in 2013. Not exactly the next day, but also not disastrously long.
All I’m saying is you need to be braced for it. I see all the graphs upthread talking about the gains. Those graphs are accurate, but don’t tell the complete story.
You need to at least contemplate how you’ll feel in the lizard part of your brain at 2am and how long six years can feel while you’re in them.
OP sounds like an inexperienced investor who plausibly needs not just a reminder but to hear those words plainly. That’s all.
It’s still the best advice.