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.
I read your other post and thought I’d give you some insight about why you shouldn’t pursue another degree, especially in music. I did multiple degrees in music and I have never worked professionally in music. In fact, by the time I completed the program I hated playing my instrument and didn’t play for almost a decade.
The only reason to attend a university for music is if you need/want the credential or the ensemble experience. One uncomfortable truth is that most freshman piano students have over a decade of training before they start college. If you aren’t ready for the entrance audition now, then music school isn’t the way to go.
You can take private lessons (often from the same professors you’d have in school) for instrument technique, theory, repertoire, and ear training. You don’t need the university for that.
One thing people don’t like to talk about when it comes to music programs is that they are lifestyle degrees as much as they are intellectual degrees. There’s the classist element, the physical element (as a pianist or guitarist you can’t use your hands for any physical labor), and the financial element (instrument maintenance, performance quality instruments, travel, etc.).
Take the investment advice from others in this thread to set yourself up and then find some private teachers. You don’t need a degree to study music.
Edit: DM me if you want to talk about this more.
My partner and I had something similar happen and we used about 40K to pay off our house and fix/update some house stuff. Invest the remainder in the S&P 500 Index fund. Then let it sit for 10 years.
Invest it index funds. If you must, set aside like 10 to 20% for something now. Vacation. Lessons. Whatever. Now ain’t the time to be whimsical with money.
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You can afford 64GB of DDR5.
Learn piano online. You don’t need a bachelor. As a musician, no one cares is you’ve got a piece of paper, they just wasn’t to know if you’ve got the skills. Check out ‘pianoforall’ on udamy. Its $50. And is all you need.
Invest in s&p500 index. See bogelheads.org for the investment playbook.
Invest in s&p500 index. See bogelheads.org for the investment playbook.
This. If OP got this $150k on Jan 1 of this year and put it in a boring old index fund tracking the S&P 500 OP would now have $168,810. That’s right, $18,810 in growth just from Jan 1 2026.
But bare in mind the economy is all kinds of messed up right now. That being said its the lowest risk way for your money to make money.
But bare in mind the economy is all kinds of messed up right now.
I’ll be the first to say that investing in the stock market is no sure thing. I’ll also say that past performance does not predict future results. I’ll also post this chart which shows the annual returns of the S&P 500 over the last 8 years. Even during the disruption of the global pandemic the returns were substantial.
With the exception of 2022, its been absolutely crazy crazy good! Even if someone invested at the worst time in 2022 absorbing the all of the losses from that year, they’d would have already been cash positive by the end of 2023.
That being said its the lowest risk way for your money to make money.
The S&P 500 is not the lowest risk way to make money. It is maybe the lowest risk way to make the most money. US Treasuries or even an FDIC high yield savings account (or NCUA for credit union) are far safer, but don’t earn nearly as much.
Thnx for adding context and keeping me in check. I’m just a dude not a professional.
No worries at all. I wouldn’t expect anyone to know this unless they follow markets personally or professionally. Even what is said on the news doesn’t lay this out plainly.
The weird part is everyone knows we’re headed for a market correction, but nobody knows when. I honestly thought it would have happened years ago, but it keeps going up. I’m a long term nonprofessional investor, so I’m okay with the downturn for myself when it eventually happens.
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.
My suggestion might be more controversial than investing it into stable market funds.
$150k is an awkward amount of money. It’s not enough to support you for life unless you become extremely frugal and move to a developing country. If you’re under 40 invested it and forgetting about it would make your retirement more comfortable, but that assumes a stable market moving forward. The way the world is changing and the markets are behaving though, there is no guarantee of stable growth. Past performance is not a good indicator of future behavior, especially moving into the future.
Instead you could invest that money into things that will make you (and your family) more self sufficient and resilient to an unstable future. You could do things like invest in solar and other off grid tech for your home, buy acerage as far north and as close to a natural water source as you can, and many other things as well.
Obviously no one knows what the future holds but all indicators point to instability, scarcity, and generally hard times for all us little people. Guarding against that will make your life just as comfortable as letting the money grow, just in a different way
Save it. You can use it for loved ones in case they need it. I am glad I’ve got some savings. Not even anywhere close to that amount of money, but now I can help a dear friend who’s really struggling at the moment. She knows I don’t need it back anytime soon and I’m happy to help her with rent, food and vet bills for her dog.
Short-term: put it somewhere safe and don’t touch it. That might look like a combination of index funds and a savings account.
Long-term: figure out what you want to do with it. I’d suggest at least a large chunk of it as a long-term investment.
Hookers and cocaine.
You’re alive and sound of mind right now (I guess). Enjoy it now, you don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.*
*My opinion is based on my experiences and my experiences might not be a reasonable expectation for your situation.
If you’re not sure, put it in a savings or stable short term investment account , like a money market account or a short term CD account. That way the money is doing something while you make sure you’re doing what you want, there’s no real risk, and you can pull the money out whenever you want. You might lose some interest if you pull out of the CD early.
You mentioned wanting to learn the piano for love of it, rather than for professional reasons. If you’re looking at a school the semesters might line line up with a CDs investment cycle, which means you might be able to avoid loosing out on interest. A proper credit union will likely have an account specialist who can help you get things sequenced. They won’t give you financial advice, but they can help you get things timed and setup right.
It’s super important to do what you love. The point of money is, in part, to help you do what you love. Sometimes that’s by providing security, and sometimes by creating opportunity.
If it’s the love that’s driving you it might be worth it to look if you can audit then classes, or follow a different path that costs less money. You don’t get the degree but you might be able to get the same education.
