"Also, see if maybe you can develop some hobbies. It can be as simple as hiking or collecting stamps. Preferably one that has a social aspect so you have human interaction."

I would avoid material intensive Hobbies where you can buy accomplishment.

Unfortunately I am not in a similar situation but if I was I would try to maybe put some effort in to being healthy and not just focusing on beeing stimulated constantly. You can afford taking it slow, give it a try.

Agreed, it's super easy to pick up a material hobby (like collecting something). Instead, I'd pick up a working hobby. Let's say you really enjoy volunteer work. I'm sure there's a ton of good not-for-profits that need an experienced project manager.

Money can't buy happiness. Money can free up your time to explore enriching endeavours. A windfall should be a gateway to really explore what the world has to offer without limitations.

My top things that I would do in this situation:

- Make sure my debts are paid, and ensure long term stable income

- 1 hour minimum workout every day

- Be outside as much as possible

- Learn new applicable skills (home or auto repair, woodworking, music, etc...)

- Possibly go back to school

- Play video games

- Read more

These are all things that I try to do now, but don't have the time because of work or debt.

- Make sure my debts are paid, and ensure long term stable income

Totally. No need to carry a car loan, mortgage, Credit card debt anything anymore.

Depending on the mortgage rate, it might be better to keep it and invest the money that would have been used to pay off the mortgage instead.

Nah, once you've got 8MM in the bank there's no point worrying about maximizing returns. You've already won. Keep it simple, pay off the house, enjoy life.

This is exactly right. Mortgage/debt represents risk. Many people do the math on potential returns, but calculate risk as $0, which it definitely is not. I think it helps to consider this transaction in reverse. If you had a paid for house would you mortgage it so you could put that money into an investment account at Schwab? Almost certainly not.

If you pay off your house, shouldnt you also set aside ~10 years of annual property tax + X%/year for upgrades/fix/whatever - such that you literally do not have to think of a house expense for a decade.

Add in a lump sum for the monthly utilities for a decade and make a house account. Have the house account pay all these other incidentals from that account which you otherwise ignore.

Then, anytime you look at your bank account, the future costs of living in that home are never reflected in the balance you see in your daily account(s)

some would say that depends on the cost of borrowing. i know high net wealths that borrow any time they can if the rates are low enough.

And this is how monetary policy works :)

I felt the same. Hobbies, especially the ones that promote health or fitness (like some cool sports) would be something I'd clearly look out for.

On top of that I'd be very keen to invest in health of both yourself and your family. Dead people do not enjoy wealth, and while the sick sometimes need money to fix themselves up one can argue they do not really enjoy it. Some doctors may help you with a proper preventive plan that involves some recurring tests, I'd certainly invest in that. You may need a few, like: an MD, a holistic doctor and a nutritionist.

Then investigate what it takes to "live healthy" for you. Food (more raw organic produce), exercise/sports (yoga, running, cycling, gym, climbing/bouldering, kite surfing), some spiritual practice (meditation, breathing techniques, some philanthropy). This all can bring a person years of healthy life.

If your are not hung up on the location to live, you may want to explore some over the years. Having 2 places to call your home is well within reach. Then if you are into it, you can build, or remodel a place to your interests: a hobby in itself.

For you or anyone else who is looking for hobbies, there is an enormous universe of amazing projects that desperately need volunteers with modest levels of skill.

I run a small science fiction magazine with some friends and we're always looking for support to help this project grow. What we need most is volunteers who can commit enough time to learn the ropes and move the project forward - it's hard to find anyone who can commit more than an hour or two a week.

Pick literally anything that you are interested in, and there's likely a community of people trying to do interesting things in that field. All you have to do is reach out! So, go get 'em.

You have the freedom to chose what you do with your time, but that freedom could become crippling if you don't fill it with something that you find meaningful/fulfilling.

It can be equally detrimental to your physical health as well.