I do manage large sums of money, considerably more than a million, for myself and other members of my family. I have been investing in individual stocks for over 20 years, and have had my share of unfavorable results. So that means it can’t go wrong, right? Well, no.
When I design a portfolio for something like this, I would typically lean towards large-cap, dividend-paying stocks to preserve capital and avoid risk. If you don’t need the income, you should also keep at least 10% cash. If, on the other hand, you do need more income, then you would have to take on some degree of risk in the current market, which is very high right now.
A typical portfolio I would design for a $1 million investment would consist of 65% blue-chip dividend payers, 7.5% REITS, 7.5% preferreds, 10% risky high-payers, and 10% cash. I would advise you to take 13 blue-chip positions of $50K each, and pick up 3 to 5 positions in each of the other categories. Yield should be in the neighborhood of 4%.
Two years ago, I could have got you 5% easily, and with less risk.
Not 100% sure of the regulations for message boards - but wondering it you’d be required to include any disclaimers with that message (i.e., past performance is not a guarantee of future results).