Good luck. Do your best, you got this....

You've never had a boss and you don't have to work if you don't want to and your wife is in school , sounds like you're living the dream

First of all congrats. I'm 36 and have worked for others since leaving the military, and would give this advice.

As to the money, park $10,000 in i-bonds right now. You can get an almost 10% return guaranteed by the US government. https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/ibonds/res_ibonds.htm
I won't go to far beyond that, but mutual funds over individual stocks if you are going to invest, and commercial real estate over residential if you really want to be a land lord.

As to the work thing. Now is the best time ever to be looking for work. Everyone is hiring. I am assuming that since your wife is a teacher you already have access to good medical insurance through her, and based on the way you are phrasing your question would be looking to work for a while to stay busy.

My recommendation if you are already financially stable and just want to stay productive? Try working with a temp agency. Essentially you will get "rented out" to a different place for a few weeks to months to do some specific set of work. You may love the work, you may hate it. It is generally pretty flexible as you can tell them you will do the contract or not. You can try several different jobs over the course of a year but they will all be under the same parent company on a resume. If the company you are temped out to likes you, they may offer you a full time position. My sister in law took a job at a place like this and was moved around every few weeks until she found a job where she excelled and was hired on full time. What does she do? She acts as a liason between law enforcement agencies and the phone company. The FBI gets a warrant, you help the FBI get the phone records for the case. That is the type of weird random job you would never try to get but would just fall into.

In any case good luck and if you don't need the money look for the employment that is the most fun/rewarding.

I have a retired friend who flips yard sale items. Best of Luck out there.

~ Chase

After 18 years at one place, covid shut them down, and I was looking for work. It can be quite intimidating at first. My only advice is find something you enjoy and not just a paycheck.

Previous job was a bill collector for the cable company. Now I'm in property maintenance making more and enjoying it

Whatever you do , I hope you find something you really love .

Do what I did, open a barcade. Make those machines of yours make money for you.

I don't miss Corporate America one bit after 13 months. Looking for location #2 right now.

That spoils the hobby for many by doing that, works for some I guess.

Oh gee How to invest 600k. I bonds as someone said is a no brainer right now. You are limited to $20k as a couple filing jointly but I would do it. Normally I would say buying rental property, especially 3+ mutifamily units, is a good investment to increase passive income, but recent mortgage rates suck so you would have to do the math. Private lending is another option. You basically are a bank and do private mortgages and can earn 8-15%. There are people for which traditional mortgages aren’t an option which will use this. You need to know what you are doing, do research or consult with an attorney. Be sure the loan is secured by a property so you don’t lose your shirt. Finally, throwing $ stock index funds is probably a good idea with the market lows. You could do some combo of all of this. Also consult with a financial advisor for these other ideas but make sure it’s on a “fee only” basis. That means you pay them a flat fee and they give advice. Anyone that is making a cut on your money is not going to act in your best interest.

If his first priority is making a living or securing his future, then love for the hobby should take a backseat anyway.

As far as spoiling Pinball, the people I know that felt this way didn't go all in - they started a side hustle and kept their day job. Too much sweat, not enough reward.

It is very liberating to go all in. I did a lot of planning and research before I jumped and that paid off. I also didn't do it 'for the love of pinball, ' I did it to build a real business and make real money. A year later I'm looking to expand in the middle of a recession.

I had real expectations and goals, not (just) that romantic pinball dream that almost all of us have had at least once.

Although I don't play as much pinball today as I used to, I still love it.

As far as the interview, GL. With your experience in your own business, you should be interviewing them. Since you will be working for someone else for the first time, you are going to really need to like the people and team you will see everyday. You can and should be very selective.

Glad it's working for you and you enjoy it, not the case for everyone. He already said he doesn't have to work so his hobby doesn't need to take a backseat to anything unless it was his dream to operate and maintain games.

I'm guessing you are mid 50's?

I'm also guessing the $600k is from the sale of the business. Which means your wife and you most likely have savings in IRA/401k/savings account etc....

Depending on your lifestyle/future spending habits and the fact that the spouse is still working, you very well could call it a day? If you have no major bills and her salary is enough to cover everything, you could just retire now if you so desire.

Let the investments keep growing and start collecting S.S. at 62.

You can't live on $600K ? Hmmm....

John

Congrats for being in such a position. Perhaps try n find something that makes you happy, so it doesn’t feel like work. Best of luck in whatever you decide upon amigo

I have a feeling it's gonna be a bit of adjustment for James to not "be the boss" but I also remember it sounded like the used car biz was driving him insane so I think this is a net win.

Good luck dude!

Can't go in drunk & smoking like you did in the 80s bud.
I mean, is it even worth it?!!?

About time you got a job !

Are you going for a QOF or a 1031 exchange? Or is there another way to defer gains?
If held business for more then couple years, your taxes will be what? 24%?

I find myself in a similar situation. I've been a one man machine shop since 1990. I started my business in '99 w/ one cnc knee mill, a manual bridgeport mill, and a small lathe. Over the years I slowly grew the business. I now have 4 cnc machining centers. Recently, my last customer received FDA approval on their medical product. I find myself with no work. I've never had to advertise...my reputation and dedication to my work has kept me afloat all these years.

Maybe it's time to start advertising. The thought of going to work for someone scares me to death.

never be the first to say what salary you are expecting. make them say what the start pay is first, then go up. but..... if you were a car salesman like someone said- you know this.

MY plan...

just be a hardware store guy for a bit. use the discount for the honey do list, then quit.
after that work at McDonalds so i can figure out why the milkshake machine is always broken.
invent new machine, sell patent.

If you want to make a few bucks and have insurance be the assembler at Walmart or Lowes. Pretty much on your own with little oversite and no real production numbers. I also have a few friends that aren't very handy so they work as part runners for Napa. Same deal. Easy day and they like to hire older guys they know will be dependable.

Good luck with your search and New Job.
The lowes, home depot, costco techs assemblers is a good racket.
I have a friend that does 4-5 hour shifts at costco. Goes in at closing or 5am. They move(assemble) the big patio stuff , play sets. all the big stuff. His route is about 6 costcos in the same county.

Here is all you need to know about a job interview:

That's less than $10/hr dude. You will make more money with less stress working at McDs.

Only if it tastes like ketchup and onion.

Don't be so sure. Assume nothing.

I’m in the other side, interviewing several people for corporate positions every week (not HR but I manage teams of engineers).

Interviews are funny. At my employer, once you get an interview, the key is to just be yourself and if your resume was correct, you basically have the job. It’s often a very balanced process where I’m just as interviewed by the candidate.

Bus drivers, or any kind of vehicle drivers, are in high demand in many areas. You should have no problem at all finding part time work, literally everyone is hiring. This generation has no work ethic. They just want to sit home and "invest" in Bitcoin because some sleazy financial institution (Robin Hood, Voyager, Celsius, Zipmex) promised them the moon.

That's a rabbit hole in and of itself for sure. TLDR, a greedy old company screwed over another greedy old company for decades and the second greedy old company just makes the franchisees pay the repair fees charged by the first greedy old company.

I'm sure that you could use life experience to push your way into a state job. I pushed my way into a state job at 44. Sounds like you sold cars so you can talk it up.

I found this job fair link pretty quickly.

https://www.twc.texas.gov/job-fairs

I went from blue color to health care pretty easily. You never know. A change can be good.

https://www.hhs.texas.gov/about/jobs-hhs

Ok Boomer.