Starting over/starting fresh-- what would you do?

I’m in a similar situation. Debt free is good. But there is more to total freedom than that.

Two things…

Apply the same discipline that got you debt free towards saving a decent chunk. Pay yourself just as you did the previous lenders. Pay yourself more if you can.

During the time you’re saving, start making plans to sell the house. The tenants will find another place. You’re relieved of liability, insurance, interest, and property tax.

So it takes a year or two… three? Just keep doing what you’re doing. Before you know it, you’ll have $30G in the bank and no ties or responsibility. These next few years could really set you up for long term. Perhaps during this time, you could also do much career thinking, and educate yourself to a line of work projected to be in demand within short future.

Good job! Good luck!

Warren Buffett once said, “You have to love something to do well at it.” And Charlie Munger, Buffett’s partner, said, “I’ve never succeeded doing something I didn’t like doing.”
And Confucius said something along the lines of “if you love what you’re doing, you won’t have to work another day in your life”.

So, you make two lists. On the first list, you write down everything that you love to do, or would love to learn how to do. Everything. No matter how small, inconsequential or silly. Remember, this is brainstorming.

On the second list, you write down everything that you’re good at doing. You may include things that you may not know how to do yet, but you’re pretty sure you would be very good at if someone taught you. You have to be brutally honest about the items on this list. Ideally, you must be “better than the average bear” at the skills on this list.

Then you see where the two lists intersect. Hopefully, this will give you some idea of two or three things you could be doing. You then prioritize and choose one. And you go for it.

And don’t worry about the money. For if love what you’re doing, you will likely be good at it, and if you’re good at it, you’ll be successful, and if you’re successful, you’ll have money, no matter what the line of work is. But, you’ll still have to manage your money well, as @RealEyesRealizeRealLies says, if you want to keep it.

Travel. See the world a little before stepping into something that requires some for me to stick around. For now I would get a simple job and save some money to be able to travel with some comfort.
This is the best time, since you don’t have to worry about getting someone to watch your home nor do you have to ask for permission for vacation, and you don’t have to worry about paying bills while you are gone or worry about leaving other people behind.
Yes, you can stay home save a lot of money, invest and get another job for the next few years, and choose to settle down, but in a few years you won’t feel like doing much of anything and you may end up wishing you explored the world a little bit more.
While you wait for cash to build up, you can learn another language of a country you would like to visit.

Your personal priorities will determine which comes first: choosing where you want to live and then looking for work there, or finding a job and then looking for a place to live there. So many people are limited by one or the other, and/or by committed relationships, and right now you don’t have to be. It’s scary to be without an anchor, but it’s also a wonderful opportunity to choose a new path without being hemmed in on all sides by things that some of us think we can’t change.

I’ve never been in your situation, but I think fear of being alone in a completely unfamiliar, alien-seeming place would have constrained my choices much more than necessary. If I could go back with what I know now, I might do a number of things differently (wouldn’t we all?). One thing I can tell you for sure: 40 is still very young, plenty young enough to be exploring all options.

This sounds like a very exciting time to be in—to be in that pocket of your life trajectory with minimal commitments.
Go to an ashram in India to be enlightened. I went walking on the Compostela pilgrimage route a few years ago and it was full of people who were at that stage of their lives. It was great fun. I myself would do a vipassana 10 day course, but I think everyone has their own path. It’s good to take time off to figure stuff out….

My brother moved to California after he was released from the Army. He picked California because you could go to a state college free of charge, if you were a resident of the state. (This was before Reagan was governor and got rid of the program because too many liberals were graduating from California universities).

Anyway, he had to live there for a year. He didn’t want to pay rent so he bought a duplex and the tenant paid the mortgage. Later, he used the duplex to back a loan to buy another apartment building. He’s still there and owns may buildings and never made it to college. He also never went to work for anybody. He’s been successfully unemployed for the last 40 years. Maybe you could do something like that. I’ve been to India and really don’t recommend an ashram, the toilet facilities leave much to be desired.