How much will the bank pay you for a million dollars?? A measly 20k a year. If you have 2 for 500k fully paid off. One you live in and the other you rent. about $2,000 a month and with that you need to pay you property taxes @ a 500k home, cars, insurance, and all of the other utilities. OH and then there is food and going out. Do you think I million dollars can carry you along the way everything keeps rising and not ever have to work again. I think not!!!!
what bank do you go to that only gives 2% return per year?
Assuming you've very simple and buy a CD at 5%, that's still 50k a year to live on.
If you put it into mutuals and get semi-lucky at 10% you're now living on 100k a year
Or, use some to start a business, invest the rest, and break around 125k a year.
It ain't rocket science. Once you earn $1M in cash you can cost/work part time, unless of course, you need to live in a million dollar home... which I don't think anyone NEEDS to do.