With 1 million dollars to invest..."you won't be able to generate even $100k in annual income. More like 60-70 thousand" So wrong. You have to broaden your investment perspective. There are so many different opportunities besides the usual Stock-Bond-CD-Money Market routines. For instance, hard money loans are yielding great returns (anywhere from 12 to 25 percent per year for the average deal)and they are 100% asset backed. The biggest problem with this type of investment is finding a lending company that you trust (especially now with the internet, there are so many fly by night scams). Fortunately, one of my good friends left the trading business a few years ago and went to work for one of these companies. Volume