UT, Yes some people do think like that, though I think its counter-intuitive as today's value of your capital (less taxes on sale, etc) is what you actually have to work with, this applies for investments making a loss also.
My grandpa used to work out his dividend yield using his purchase price. I stumbled across some old paperwork of his and thought 'my god these yield are huge!' Hahaha.
If it was truly just about cash flow some consideration should be given to fixed income, assuming $400K plus you can build a portfolio of investment grade mainly senior debt yielding a touch over 7% atm.
