Yours is one many posts that said they would invest such and such amount of money in stocks? to earn 5% return when they retire. For your case the amount is $1.5m.

To know whether this plan will pan out, ask yourself these few questions:

1. Do you currently have any investment in shares?
2. Are you able to stomach the volatility in the share prices? For some shares (including blue chips) their value can plunge easily tens of percent overnight. Imagine this happening when you are 65, retired with no more salary.
3. Are you willing / do you dare to put all the $1.5m in one segment of the market? Most likely not, then you will most likely achieved a lower return than 5%.

My point is - do not blindly echo other posters who shared their passive income returns. Some of these posters have steadily invested over many years (20 - 30 years?). Many of them have snared "multi baggers" ie shares that have grown multifold in values over the years.

My total stock holding now is worth slightly above $1m, but my outlay was about $770k and the build up was over many years. I pared my risk through spreading over many different kinds of stocks (about 35counters) from reits to blue chips. As a result, my dividend income averaged 5% or about $50k pa give and take a few $k each year.

If you asked me now, if I were a retiree with $1.5m to invest, I would not plonk down the $1.5m in a short time. I will probably take my time to study and pick the stocks. Meaning I will not be able to generate the income necessary to sustain my retirement. Thus I will end up using the $1.5m to feed myself in the meantime.