Quote from: 1aguar on October 31, 2015, 07:39:12 PM

Quote from: Biodom on October 31, 2015, 05:58:24 PM

Financial professionals usually suggest that you can safely use 4% each year without even decreasing principal (due to appreciation). A healthy mix of stocks, bonds, RE and alternatives is needed, though.

These "financial professionals" have an approach that is fundamentally mistaken.
The first priority when investing is to be protected from loss, but you are always exposed to risk with any traditional or alternative asset, so to "diversify" into a "healthy mix" of assets does not actually protect from loss.
If there truly exists a diversified strategy or portfolio that did well during the previous market meltdown while consistently producing >4% average returns, then let's identify it and discuss it.
What you should be doing with $1M is acquiring assets that will always protect your principal. Most people are not even aware that these exist.

because they don't, maybe? in a strict sense, at least.

i read a book about depression and one thing was interesting. People needed professional services during and after, but had NO money to pay for them. So, as far as professional services are concerned, they suffered for much longer than actual depression is depicted (which is typically 1929-1933) and recovered only after WWII.