Don't listen to many who are saying 500K is not a lot of money. It is, even in the US.
From business insider, for the US:
Age Average net worth Median net worth
Under 35 $76,200 $11,100
35 to 44 $288,700 $59,800
45 to 54 $725,500 $124,200
55 to 64 $1,167,400 $187,300
65 to 74 $1,066,000 $224,100
75 or older $1,067,000 $264,800
With 500K, you are already worth more than twice the median networth at 75!
So my advice will be:
- get rid of any debts you have (specially credit card). If you have mortgage and the interest rate is not high, then you can keep that (calculate how much I would pay if I rent the same place, and if the answer is comparable or less than the interest you are paying, then keep it. If you are paying much more than that, either try to pay some of it or sell the place and rent another place or buy a cheaper apartment/house)
-put half of the rest on solid ETFs, like the vanguard ETFs that are low return
(spend some time here comparing the different index funds)
-put half of the rest on some solid companies like AMZN, MSFT, google, Paypal, APPLE, etc... (priorotize the ones that have not grown so much the last few month. For example, I will prioritize MSFT over APPLE...but if you are thinking of holding for 5+ years, it doesn't matter that much
-put the rest of the money (this is your "speculation" or "gambling" money, so make sure that it should not be more than the amount you can afford to lose. For example, say 50-100k max) in some emerging companies/techonologies... for example, ETFs about clean energy such as TAN, startups on electric batteries or cars, 5G, etc...
Regarding the work and what to do, take at least 2 to 3 years off and dabble in many things. I am sure you have some hobbies/interests...maybe you will find one of them is something you would really like to pursue, regardless of the possible monetary payout.. if your investment above is doing well, why the hell do you want to be employed to make more money. Try to put as much weight on the time something takes away from you, as compared to the money it brings you. I mean, earning 50K working 2.5 days per week is a much better choice than working 5 days and earning 100k.
If you don't have strings attached (i.e. no wife and kids), and if you like traveling, you can go to Asia or south/central america, or even some parts of europe (Italy, portugal, spain, most of eastern europe), where you can live very comfortably for around 1500 dollars per month (in some places, even for less than a 1000). That means, something around 50k will cover you 3 years of living in a bunch of exotic countries, where you are going to get a shitload of experience, meet a bunch of ladies, .... Assuming you invested 400K, and you have an average return of 4% per year, that will be around 50K in 3 years...voila, after 3 years, you will still your 400K left ....of course that is not guaranteed, but with careful investment and hoping a major disaster like covid doesn't befall us in the near future, a 4% return per year is very realistic, I would say even pessimistic.
All the best!