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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Buy ETFs

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

Safe bet

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.

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

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.

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.