<prompt> Human: So, I want to retire from my traditional work but unfortunately interest rates are so low that parking it in a CD or bond and living on the interest is not possible. I want to maintain as much principal as possible and generate 100kyr to live on family is used to high standard of living. Main questions:Pay off house? Owe 400k, but locked in at 3 on 15 yr fixed. Would be nice to have this free and clear, but that s a chunk of the windfall.Mix of dividend stocks, buy-writes for income? Pretty big risk of market correction there. Just do not want to park it in a CD at 1, bleh.Real EstateFranchise? Could acquire a 4 unit building but the vacancy issue is a big concern. Could acquire a franchise and try for a bigger score. Im not risk averse, but would like to get opinions on what to do with the windfall keeping in mind 2 kids future college expenses long retirement horizon, will have to buy medical insurance and want to maintain as much of the standard of living as possible. Appreciate your thoughts.  <response>: At your current expenses, this wouldnt be enough even if it was in stocks with their high expected returns. So putting it in a CD really isnt going to cut it. You didnt say how much you have in other accounts.Easiest thing to do would be to stop spending 100k a year. 