If you invest that money in an index fund, you'll average around 7% per year, assuming the last hundred years are any indication. If you limit yourself to drawing 3.5% per year to allow the capital to keep up with inflation, that's almost $90,000 per year. That's a lower professional-level income, significantly higher than the average income in the US. Anyone without special monetary demands (e.g. a quadriplegic child) and with even a modicum of discipline can live just fine on that much money, even with lots of children, as long as they don't live in big cities like New York or Seattle, or in the Bay area.