Use this money to max out all tax advantaged accounts available to you (401k, IRA, HSA), and invest the rest in a brokerage account. When in doubt, invest the money in a target date fund at Vanguard or Fidelity that most closely matches the date you plan to start withdrawing from the account. A total world fund/ETF, like VT, is also a fine option.
One would think the price would increase until someone would pick you up.
Uber should add the ability to bid up your route--like when it's taking a long time to match you to a driver, or you want to entice a driver who is nearby so you can get where you're going sooner.
Exactly. I commonly enroll in Coursera classes just to get access to the video lectures for later perusal for information relevant to my work and interests.
While not an interest bearing account, investing in an index fund of global stocks should outpace housing. Investing in a REIT should roughly keep pace with housing costs.
Montreal and Quebec City seem reasonable, but this is based purely on a few web searches.
I hope you end up in a place where you can start building some financial security.
Also, run the numbers on long term renting in areas where housing prices are high. There's sometimes a high opportunity cost to having a ton of your savings stuck in the down payment for a house when you could otherwise have it invested in low cost index funds or something similar.
Perhaps grandkids should ask to move in with grandma? She might like the company. :)
In seriousness, not all metro areas have seen the same huge rise in rents and property values. I can personally vouch that the Baltimore-DC region offers relatively high paying jobs and housing that is adorable given those incomes. I've heard San Antonio, TX is also good on the jobs to housing costs front.
If things get seriously unaffordable as a renter, it's always possible to move somewhere more affordable.
Housing, on average, rises at the rate of inflation (it's closely linked to the cost of new construction), per Robert Shiller's research. Even if the housing market explodes in one area, there's almost certainly another area where it hasn't (normally one without restrictions on new construction-San Fransisco being a prime example of a place where housing prices have skyrocketed due to such restrictions).
At some point, it's a better financial move to rent instead of own. That is true in many American cities (much of NYC, for example). Housing bubbles happen. Try not to buy into one.
I'm a bit surprised that negative nominal interest rates are a thing. If you print enough money, inflation starts to rise. Why not print money such that you can still provide a positive nominal interest rate so people don't start bank runs and stuff money in mattresses? True, the real return would be negative, but that would be the case either way.
Having been to Germany a few times, I've not noticed anything like only government buildings being in good repair. Can you identify a few cities that are like this?