Re:Ask HN: Just cashed out for 2M. What now?
by mynameishere on Thursday February 19, 2009 @12:30PM
(#487535)
Junk bonds are yielding about 13 percent right now, but there's a huge default risk:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=jnk
Muni bonds are at about 7 with much less risk:
The only way to get that is by taking significant principal risk ("junk" bonds or equity investments). 30 year US treasury bonds are only yielding 3.54%, and everything less than 3 years is <1% [1]. The highest yielding US$ CD I could find [2] was 4.3%, and the highest CDN$ GIC looks to be 4.3% [3].
Also, remember inflation - it really eats into it.. Let's say you're 30 and expect to live to 75. Even with a modest 2.5% inflation rate, your effective income will be <1/3 of what you started with by the end.
[1]http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/domestic-finance/debt-managem... [2]http://beta.bankrate.com/funnel/cd-investments/cd-investment... [3]http://money.canoe.ca/rates/gics_5.html