Can you retire with one million?

Today, I came across an interesting article in The Star, “Can you retire with one million?” Just click here to read the full article.

According to the writer, he assume a person with 55 now, having one million in the pocket and have a life time for another 25 years (about 80 years old) He use simple math to divide 1,000,000 by 25 then divide further to come out $3,333 a month. With this, he concluded that life would be tough, hence one still need to work after 55 as $3,333 might not enough to cover the expenses.

Oh no... how can the writer did not know in the world we have something call Investment. One can invest in property, stock market, bond or even business to generate income. For example, he can buy 5 or 6 houses with each value at around $200,000 and collect the rental income. (we don't talk about borrow money, but just use all the cash in his pocket) Assume each house generate $900 of net rental, with 5 or 6 houses, you can simply collect $5,400 per month. Don't forget, after 5 or 6 years, all these houses will appreciate in value, meaning one million will become 2 million quite easily. Thanks to the inflation, you may also revise the rental rate as well, meaning 5 years later, the rental may increase to $10,000 per month.

Another option, one can buy the REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust), with current average return of 7 to 8%, one can expect $70,000 per year if invest with one million, or the dividend of $5,833 per month without worry about collecting the rental and don't need to pay tax. Since the main objective is to receive regular income here and capital appreciation would just be a bonus over the year. Similarly, REIT's rental would increase year after year.

Of course, there are many other ways to generate profit income with one million if you know how to set up a business with reasonable risk. However, if you don't want to take extra risk, the above two conservative way to invest the fund are more than enough to support you living. From the above example, you don't need to kill the chicken, but just sell the golden egg which generate by the chicken every month, how nice! Who say one million just can survive for 25 years?