5% isn't as modest as you think once you take into account inflation and taxes, and the fact that the stock market isn't going to magically go up 10% every year (as many people erroneously assume). Living off of 2% of your assets is a safer and more sustainable assumption.

Not to mention that if your house is already paid for, you can live on much less than 5%. Housing is far and away most people's biggest expense.

True. But I, for one, would be perfectly happy with $160k per year. ;)

I did the numbers a few months ago just out of curiosity.

If you're buying TIPS (which returned 2% above CPI) and want 50 years of stipend out of your capital, you can get a 3.6% return above inflation.

As in, $1m should get you $36k/year for the next 50 years, leaving you with nothing at that point.

So a buck fifty a year with no mortgage and (I would assume) a really nice house... seems pretty decent to me - :)

  $2M to buy a decent house

Friend, it's time you moved out of the Bay Area :-)

lol true words.

I'd really like to know this too. I could walk away with much less than you, apparently, but my needs are small.

Would you really be gaining 8% per year? I'm not sure how returns work when you're talking about millions of dollars. I assume you are going to leave 3% behind per year for inflation. Just to be safe, I'd rather say you take 3% out each year which would still be $240k, so it's still a lot.