No need to go zero risk when the investment starts in your 20s. But of course, yes, inflation. But of course, you can draw from principal as well—that's how retirement funds usually work.

I'll put it another way: Maybe it's not 'never worry about money again'—people are prone to worrying, after all—but $6MM is more than the lifetime earnings of the vast majority of Americans.

If you can't make it on more than what nearly everyone else will ever see in their entire lives, that's your problem.

If a guaranteed six-figure passive income is not "never worry about money again", I don't know what is.

You'd have to worry about inflation. It can quickly turn that six-figure income into a low five-figure income in today's dollars.

Suppose someone said that to you in 1975, and you'd put your money into something that didn't adjust for inflation.

You'd be 37 years older and making less than 1/4 of the income, adjusted for inflation.

A mixed portfolio can provide both a solid annual income and a hedge against inflation. $6M well-invested in your 20s means you don't have to worry about money again.

Right now 10-year T-Bills are pulling about 1.65, and inflation is having a nice bounce between 1.7 and 3. Let's even it out at 2 - either way, yes, you're losing money on ultra-low-risk investments. All you can hope for is to reduce the wages of inflation on your balance sheet.

BH annuity is not a bad deal, but losing 2% of your income a year will sound tolerable until about year 5... =)

If you retire mid-twenties on $5M, there's no way you'd make it through 70 on that, if you did nothing else active (read: risky) to increase your income.

Let's assume your investments keep up with inflation but no more, which is very easy to do. Then essentially you are just living off of your principle. 5MM goes a long ways. 75k a year (in today's dollars) will last you 67 years. That's more than most people make. I'd take that.

You want to spend 50 years on vacation?

I said nothing of the sort.

Follow the thread UP, and you'll see it's the core of the conversation - as to whether one can live off of 6MM for the rest of your life. I call "ceasing working and living on the money you made previously" retirement, you can call it what you like.

Earlier in the year, you could get a 12 month CD in Australia for almost 6%.

The inflation rate in Australia was pushing 4% last year. That's a nominal return of 2.X%.

It's a real return of ~2%, it's a nominal return of 6%. "Nominal" in this case means "in name only" - it's the face-value of the return, not the actual value.