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Re:94k Bitcoin (1B USD) transferred from unknown wallet to u... by ghaff on Monday September 09, 2019 @03:16PM (#20921327)
Entirely dependent on location, lifestyle, family status, etc. Yes, with $2m you can retire tomorrow and get something like $100K/year in pretty much guaranteed income not pegged to inflation. (You can argue the numbers but certainly <$200K/year with moderate risk.) And you can certainly live on that amount of money but equally certainly not with an opulent lifestyle--especially if you don't own your house/condo, have college expenses, like to travel/eat out etc.

ADDED: Yes, you're "rich" but not jet-setting in business class at resort hotels, multi-million dollar coastal city condo, eat at top restaurants on a regular basis etc. rich. Which is actually just fine for a lot of people who have no particular interest in those things.

Re:94k Bitcoin (1B USD) transferred from unknown wallet to u... by tunesmith on Monday September 09, 2019 @03:48PM (#20921712)
Wait, how would you guarantee 5%? I don't see "put it in an index fund" as "pretty much guaranteed".
Re:94k Bitcoin (1B USD) transferred from unknown wallet to u... by ghaff on Monday September 09, 2019 @03:54PM (#20921771)
Annuities, high grade corporate or muni bonds, mix in some high dividend yield blue chips, etc. I'd mix with some riskier investments that were higher return on average.

Nothing is guaranteed if things go totally to hell, of course. (And I did make the qualification of not being pegged to inflation.) But unless we get to a very bad place, I think that assuming 5% on these sorts of investments is a pretty safe bet.

(ADDED: But pick your own number. 3-4% probably is closer to the really very safe modulo inflation given instruments like CDs in that range. But you're reinforcing my basic point. $2M is not really the basis for a huge annual income in perpetuity or even over a multi-decade timescale if you don't have other income streams to add to that mix.)

Re:94k Bitcoin (1B USD) transferred from unknown wallet to u... by syncsynchalt on Monday September 09, 2019 @06:21PM (#20923126)
The market return for the past century has been something like 7% (after inflation). If you're investing in time spans longer than 10 years then typically you expect something in that range.

Past performance does not promise future results, and the world could end tomorrow, but it's not a bad idea to plan that you'll get an average of 5%+ on market investment.

(I'll note that you're responding to someone saying "pretty much guaranteed" and dropped that qualifier in your question).

Re:94k Bitcoin (1B USD) transferred from unknown wallet to u... by tunesmith on Monday September 09, 2019 @07:26PM (#20923619)
I know about that, I meant besides that. An average return doesn't mean a consistent return from year to year - e.g. $100,000 / year from 2 million. I was just curious how other people would invest to target a high probability of 5% each year.