What to do with life after receiving windfall
So I’m in a bit of a (very fortunate) predicament ...
As a bit of background, I’ve spent about 8 years in REPE and am pretty content with my career situation although I wouldn’t say I love or am super passionate about my job... I see it as more of a somewhat interesting, challenging, and respectable way to pay my bills and save for retirement and occasional splurges on vacations/toys/partying. Basically, as long as I work as a corporate drone, I will most likely stay in REPE because it’s a decent enough fit for me to get paid and not hate my job even if I don’t exactly look forward to my alarm every morning.
I recently received a significant sum of money (mid 7 figures) and am now seriously starting to question what to do with my life. At a conservative ~3% withdrawal rate, I could completely replace my current income and live my current lifestyle in perpetuity without having to work again. I am starting to toy with the idea (especially given the current state of city life due to covid) of moving out of my city and just getting a low paying but easy/fun job in a mountain town where I can ski/hike/relax a ton and basically live in a sort of permanent vacation without the downsides of living paycheck to paycheck as many younger year-round residents in those sorts of towns do. Or maybe use some of this windfall to fund a business (I have a lot of experience is RE acquisitions/asset mgmt - but would explore non-RE options too) where I can be my own boss and make enough to at least fund an easy WFH life where i never have to clock in at a certain time or put in a PTO request to take a day off again. I really don't need to live a fancy lifestyle (zero interest in joining a country club, driving a luxury car, using money to impress people in any way... I've had this windfall for almost a year now and nobody has a clue) but am still a bit fearful of giving up future earnings to make a change like this. On the other hand, I am possibly even more fearful that I'll keep plugging away at an office job, be moderately happy, and then have regrets later in life that I didn't use this windfall correctly and wasted my life sitting in an office. Also FWIW, I'm married, no kids yet, and my wife feels the same as I do about all of this.
So yeah, this was a bit rambling, but I guess i just wanted to get my thoughts down in writing.
Has anybody been in a similar situation or made a similar change? Any insight or ideas would be appreciated...