OP does not need 1 million to buy a house unless he wants to live in New York or SF. One million for material goods is plenty but it will not be enough if he wants to live a very extravagant life. Assuming 4% return on the rest, next 5 million will give you around $200k which is way above US median income.

I think I once decided I could live happily from £3 million.

To pay off the current house would cost me £50k, then spend half a million to buy a huge house to live in, along with all the gadgets, furniture, and solid wood you could need. After that spend 4x100k to buy four more houses.

That leaves £2 million to live off, plus the rental income of five properties, and a spare 100k to cover emergency repairs, and furnishings for the rental places.

If I won/earned/received £2 million I would probably need to keep working, unless investments did exceptionally well, but £3 would be sufficient for myself and partner.

The thing with your route is doing the rental business would be too stressful for me. For me, enough is being able to live off interest. Unless the bank goes bankrupt, I really don't have anything to worry about.

Part of the reason for choosing rental-based income is that tenants would give me "a job".

I'd go insane with nothing to do, so I'd probably find myself working for a coffee shop or similar anyway, but the idea of the renting is to make sure I had a token-job, or function. (Hell with five properties and low fees I could probably become a management company..)

The 100k+ yearly interest is what makes this so appealing as a minimum. By doing nothing, you earn close to the median full time software engineering income. Consider the interest a payment of 2000 hours per year to do what you want.

If you have a 7mm offer, and less than 1mm in net worth, take the deal (not, of course, before asking for more money).