[AnimalMuppet]

In my circumstances, I'd pay off my house, replace one of the cars, and pay off my kids' student loans. I'd put the rest into a retirement fund, and see if I had enough to retire now.

In your circumstances, I wouldn't pay $500K for a house. Out here, $500K doesn't get you a "decent house", it gets you a mansion. You, your wife, and your baby probably don't need 5000 square feet of house. (Seriously, $500K can get you that. And seriously, don't do it - it's a huge waste.)

The other part that bugs me about what you propose is that "I want to work for myself", "no boss", "I feel super lucky to give it a shot" is not a plan. You can waste a lot of time and money trying to figure this out - certainly you can burn through $100K. It's far better to have a realistic plan before you start, even if you don't have all the details figured out yet.

[teamleadnew]

I have a couple of side projects I'd like to explore more. The problem I have is that my 9-5 job that utilizes most of my brain everyday. I come back home mentally exhausted then here is the baby.

I agree with you on the $500k. That is just the idea, it doesn't have to be that much and will depends on where we decide to move. Definitely not looking for a mansion :)

So setting myself up to where I could free-up most of my time would help a lot in this transition to no boss-life. Plus, most of my projects do not require any crazy investments, we're talking hundreds of dollars. It's just about paying the bills for the house, gas, food, etc. while getting up and running with a business/income.