what should I do with a $150K present after taxes?

You can afford 64GB of DDR5.

I think the key pieces of information we’re missing here is how old are you and how life changing is this money for you.

If you’re young and poor, sock away about 2/3 of it in an index fund and 1/3 in a high interest savings. Take out loans and go chase that dream bro. Use the 1/3 in savings to cover your life expenses.

If you’re mid life and poor, use it to bolster your retirement. Defer the dream but chase it once you’re comfortable.

If you’re late life and poor, take lessons from a good tutor, don’t go for the Bach. Use it to subsidize Social security. Consider moving to a cheap country where that kind of money will support you for many years.

If you’re old and well off enough - go self actualize. Time truly is the scarcest resource.

If invested in a diversified portfolio, you could safely withdraw 4% ($6000) every year for the rest of your life and still have $150k.

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.

I am not a financial advisor, seek a professional.

My opinion: if you're young, invest...now....and change nothing else about your life due to that money. Keep reinvesting the return. At some point, you'll see you have over a million dollars and you'll keep the snowball going -- and you'll find you can retire 10-20 years earlier than everyone else. If you're older, still invest, but you may want to see what the best options will be for yielding good returns toward retirement.

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

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.

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.

Beanie babies

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.

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.

If you can fully pay off a house that's in good shape and doesn't need any major repairs or anything I'd suggest that if you're thinking about it. Ideally with a well and septic system so your only real bills are electricity and property taxes. No lifestyle creep, you can just continue to live the way you live but never pay rent again. Then that rent money you're saving put that towards whatever you want, spend it as soon as you get it, save up for whatever you want. Housing isn't a good place to be putting money right now, but there isn't anywhere that is, even gold is fucked. But having a paid off house now will give you a huge change in your life immediately that provides your immediate needs of living indoors while giving you a path of more income from not paying rent.

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.

You need to talk to a financial advisor.

Investing the money doesn't mean you cannot also learn the piano.

It's too much money to immediately convert to retirement savings. There are yearly limits.

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.

This misses a lot of relevant information. Since you don't write where you are from, i asume you are from the US.

Why do you want to STUDY the piano instead of just taking lessons at a local music school? At least here in germany studying an instrument is some serious stuff for the wicked, that requires absolute determination. To me it sounds like you are "just" very good with the piano, so maybe keep it as a hobby, play 3-4 times a week and give a conncert with your music school once a year?

Also you don't write about your background? Are there people depending on you, family, children?

Also you sound like you are mainly searching for something, but dont really know what it is.

I recommend taking your money, investing it in a distributing (not accumulating the divident) MSCI World ETF and using the dividend to finance some fun or some vacation, some art class etc.

Other than the divident, just leave the money there and let it grow.

S&P500 indexed Mutual Fund. You can do this for free from the right reputable online brokerage. Then forget about it for a few decades if you can.

Always remind yourself that simply getting money doesnt make one good with money. Live your life as if you never got it. Hopefully it'll be very useful when you're older.

Put it somewhere like gold, but not USD.

Hookers and cocaine.

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.

Buy a reaaallyy good pair of rollerskates.

Take 12-24k to sustain yourself for one year and do what you want and invest and forget the rest

a 150k present is going to have big taxes in the us unless the giver also payed it.

Buy ETFs

That is like 1/3 of your 404k. Switch to a healthy (but still reasonable) diet. Buy one of those tap filters. Screen for chronic diseases. If you have enough left over, do buy a house somewhere with cheap life expenses, and start stretching the money out as you work to reach Coastal F.I.R.E. Once you reach the coastal F.I.R.E point, which can be anything from 100k to 600k, you switch to a part-time job, or low-expense lifestyle.

Everything else you will figure out with unlimited time.

Safe bet

In an effort to be a little more liquid, I moved a good chunk of my positions into a high-yield savings recently. The dividends haven't been bad at all, if you find a competitive one. IIRC, with the way US bonds are trending and everything, HYSA APY might slowly go up too. I am not a financial advisor though, so don't listen to me.

Vacation (enjoy Europe or Canada or somewhere else) for a while. Invest the remaining money.

Who is it? For who do you play your music?

Think about it.

If it turns out that you do it for yourself (plus maybe a few loved ones), then better don't build your life on your music. But if it is people, if you play for the audience, then this might be a promising way.

I don't know what to do.

I have read both posts. I can't help the feelng that you are also asking what to do with your life, not just with that bag full of money.

In the end my advice is "people" again. Do things that make people's life better (or less miserable, at least). Because a bag full of money doesn't make happy, it just fills the belly (and other low desires).

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.

Blow it. Life fucking sucks too much to be planning a future using the same tired old advice that continues to enrich those above you with the delusion of security.

How old are you? Do you currently own or rent your home?

If you're in the US, GTFO. Maybe you'd be better off financially by staying put but this country is so emotionally draining.

like people on that WSB sub, Yolo ino stocks.

Yolo