In the vein of "You don't need a million dollars..." (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2025122), I'm wondering what the fastest way to get the effective monthly return on investing a million in a safe, worry free, hands-off investment is. I think that roughly translates to a couple thousand dollars a month depending on where you insert inflation. I included "conscience clear" in the description because I personally would want to be entirely above-board (no "spam viagra ads" and the like).Just to be clear, I'm not in dire straits or in need of a million dollars. I'm just curious.
Additional clarification:
For this purpose I'd like to assume someone doesn't have a million dollars or the prospect of receiving such in a lump sum. How would they go about building up to a cash flow that would be equivalent to having a million dollars in a safe, hands-off investment?
edit: Apparently I don't know the difference between conscious and conscience. Fixed.