I’m aiming for £500,000. Will I ever get there ? I doubt it !
At 4% withdrawal rate this would give me £20,000 per year.
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For FIRE purposes, my goal is also £500k. But I’m also looking to get another £1m on top to build my own house.
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My goal is around 400-500k in shares, but I’ve done the sums, and can break 1 million assuming 5% yearly growth if I keep going for another 20 years or so. I don’t have a work pension though so this is including a SIPP. If that is your goal and you have a few decades to save I see no reason you can’t get there.
20k a year x 20 years = 400k on its own, ignoring growth/dividends. Obviously for most people saving 20k a year is pretty hard at first, but over time as they get older and wages go up it becomes more possible to save more. Depends very much which industry you work in, and what your wage is like, but for those in a fortunate position, achieving that goal is within reach.
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My £100 a month is just not going to cut the mustard!
No target just aim to accrue as much as I can over the next 20 years to top up my pensions
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I started with £100 a month about 10 years ago, whatever you start with, it grows quicker than you think.
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Sorry for the slight tangent, but what’s everybody’s thoughts on the 4% rule?
I love the FIRE mantra of frugality, investing, etc - but I’ve never liked the idea of retiring with as little as possible. I’ve always been very skeptical of the 4% rule especially as it was based on the US stock market (S&P500?), an index whose magnificent performance of past might never be seen again. Also, these studies tend to use backtesting or ‘monte carlo’ approaches, which fail to account for how the stock market can act in ways it never has before, such as our long term low interest rate environment.
On top of that, increasing retirement lengths, muted return forecasts, etc push me to consider a very conservative safe withdrawal rate.
On the other side of the coin, access to new asset classes (property, early stage companies, etc)and lower fees (freetrade!) give me great optimism
All in all, i’m lookin to hit £1m, which might be overkill, but better safe than sorry.
You’re correct that you shouldn’t use 4% in the UK based purely on a single specific US-based study.
But the real number isn’t so far off. There are other more detailed tools now like Withdrawal Rates – Portfolio Charts that take in to account country.
Bottom line, if you want to be conservative, consider 3%.
How much it is overkill also depends on when you “RE” and how that compares to when you can take out your pension, and how good that is. £500k for me is massive overkill since it only needs to last about 15 years. After that I have a great defined benefit pension that I can live off even if my investment goes to £0.
Meh whatever, I’m just kinda putting away and seeing what it’ll become. No real goal. Atm whilst I have cheap rent to pay I’m putting away about £1k a month. That will certainly be dropping though by the end of the year when I move to the city. Probably start doing about £500 a month. I’d like to think when I retire I have about £400k on top of my pension etc. 
Should be easily doable
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I’m also looking to invest 20k for 20 years but will only be able to from next year. I think I’ll stick to passive ETF investments and with compounding +DRIP I hope the portfolio grows to the 1M mark. Goal of this is so when I’m in my late 40s it will cover future kids education and home bills
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You make it sound so easy, wish I could be so positive.
I don’t see me “retiring” as such, can see me working even if I cut it down to 3/4 days a week just to keep me active and give me a purpose.
I’m 31 and just about to start investing aiming to invest £400 every month. If I can end up with 300k/400k by 55 i’ll be chuffed. Then anything I accumulate after that is a bonus.
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The real issue is that companies are disappearing from the stock exchanges and are not being replaced by new companies. At the current rate, ceteris paribus, there won’t be enough companies listed on the LSE to fill the FTSE100 in just 50 years. Investing solely in stocks, even a diversified portfolio, will never give you the long term safety that you are looking for. A serious portfolio will diversify into infrastructure, property (commercial and residential) as well as commodities and alternative assets.
I’m trying to get to £200k+
In hindsight, I got into investing a little later than I would have wanted, but I suppose I didn’t have a whole lot of disposable income.
Once I did, I put together a nice plan based on max ISA investment to get me to £1m … which has kind of been destroyed over the last four or five years due to kids coming along.
I’m back in the position where I’m starting to have some disposable income again which is good for regular saving and I’ll be getting some cash injections from a startup that I helped found - so I guess at the back of my head I have £1m as my target, but I think I’ll do well to get to half of that.
Given I’ve just turned 40, I’m not going to be able to do that in a tax efficient manner any more - so guess I’ll just have to wait for my Crowdfunds to come in 
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If I have of portfolio of £30,000 by retirement then I will have done really well
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Have you considered a SIPP ? Not accessible until you’re 57 ( current rules ) however hard to beat for tax efficiency - particularly if you’re a higher rate tax payer.
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I didn’t think I was eligible as I’ve turned 40 - or have I just made that up?
You can’t open a LISA when you hit 40. Don’t think that restriction applies to a SIPP
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Oh maybe that’s what I’m thinking of.
In which case, it’s been a good morning - thanks very much both! Have a heart each 
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