I thought about passive income but I'm more of an active income type of persons. I'd rather bet on my ability to generate money from my own sweat. That's what would drive me... Especially if everything else is taken cared of (house, retirement, debts). That means less pressure and more focus.

Also, passive income is unfortunately not the best tax optimizer unlike a business where you can use a lot of tax write-off.

Reliably? What kind of investment pays anything reliably? You can't get 3% from gov-t bonds, but if inflation picks up, you are in trouble. That's the whole point: there's nothing reliable, except death and taxes :)

I would suggest an annuity if OP is planning on living for a very long time and the money was completely unexpected. An extra $1000 a month guaranteed is pretty compelling. Sure you could maybe make $2000 a month from mutual funds or something, but it wouldn't be a stress free, steady rate of payments. It would boom and bust with market cycles

So you are saying OP could start a country and setup taxes as an income stream? :)