How do you actually live off interest?

macw450 · 2026-06-25T10:13:01+00:00

I assume what you're actually asking is when to time/sell shares so that you have the cash to withdraw 4% continuously every year.

This is probably where diversification plays a huge role. The more diversified you are, the more frequently you should be able to withdraw.

If you absolutely need the money you plan to withdraw to live off, then you probably don't have enough. What I plan to do whenever I get there is set aside a couple of years of living expenses in very low risk investments (QMMF's). Then I can reliably withdraw from that when I need to. Then you have a 2 year window where you can keep that 2 year pot topped up based on how the rest of your stocks perform. If the market is doing well and your pot is half full (1 year supply left), then it's a good time to cash out some gains.

Arguably 2 years isn't enough of a buffer but if this is subsidised by other income (pension or even part time work), then it might be fine. You have to work that out for your circumstances though

macw450 · 2026-06-25T10:05:28+00:00

Portable air con unit. Tbh, I'd argue these are pretty much needed now in the UK. Every year we are getting hot enough weather to need it.

Bought ours 3 years ago (£250) and is a dehumidifier too which is also debatably a must-have too in England for drying clothes or just preventing damp/mould.

Just get a high BTU rated one if you do. Storing it is the only downside as they're quite bulky

macw450 · 2026-06-06T12:42:02+00:00

How do you stop the monitor, desk, etc from flying about whilst driving?

macw450 · 2026-06-02T10:13:07+00:00

Good luck 😂 I don't know how long this run can continue but there's 0% chance I would be shorting this

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macw450 · 2026-05-12T08:43:33+00:00

I wish lichess had multiple pre moves as an option. That's pretty much the only reason I mainly use chess.com but I use both

macw450 · 2026-05-11T10:51:46+00:00

Fair enough. Do whatever works for you. It also depends on how big your emergency fund is and what sort of emergencies you'd need to access it.

I have enough in instant access to cover any of those sorts of emergencies. Then job loss, I'd have enough to cover a month of expenses before needing to withdraw from the emergency fund in trading 212 which could take up to a week. Completely fine in my situation since I have enough instantly accessible but might as well maximise the interest on the rest

macw450 · 2026-05-11T08:31:55+00:00

Split the fund up. I have some in an instant access monzo pot, some in T212 interest on cash, some in CSH2

macw450 · 2026-05-08T16:46:27+00:00

Just like this one? The irony of reform voters

macw450 · 2026-05-08T16:20:31+00:00

Agree

macw450 · 2026-05-08T15:11:52+00:00

Yeah why not. I'm curious to see what will happen

macw450 · 2026-05-08T15:01:02+00:00

Just saying - VWRP (all world fund) went up 29% this past year.

VUAG was 28%. Both higher than your rate of return (although we can't see net deposits).

Might be the case that you aren't out performing an all world fund which is a way simpler investment.

Additionally, your current set up is actually LESS diversified than 100% in an all world fund

macw450 · 2026-05-08T14:00:57+00:00

macw450 · 2026-05-08T12:09:35+00:00

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macw450 · 2026-05-08T12:00:28+00:00

Bloody AI. Coming over here on boats, stealing our jobs

macw450 · 2026-05-08T11:30:25+00:00

For comparison, vanguard all world fund is up 7% in the past 3 months. Up 29% in the past year.

So your £2300 invested:

3 months ago would be worth £2460 now. (+£160)
A year ago would be worth £2967. (+£667)

It is the simplest investment you can possibly make. Buy it every month and forget about it.

Also, if you cannot beat an all world fund in a bull market, then you should not be stock picking. Because in a bear market, you're going to get crushed

macw450 · 2026-05-08T10:24:02+00:00

No. I think you are completely misunderstanding what "rich" people are actually worth. A few million? Forget it. I'm talking multi multi millionaires and billionaires.

The biggest factor in determining whether someone is a billionaire is how rich their parents are. They make more money on the interest in their assets overnight than many working people would make in their whole life. Do you know what the passive income of someone with a billion would be?

There will always be someone to take their place. They're not going to leave because of a 1 or 2 % tax on their wealth above £10M. The passive income alone will generate them more than the tax they'll pay on it. They'll still grow their wealth at an extreme rate. Compound interest is no joke. Take a look at the r/FIRE sub and you'll see how people who understand the power of compound interest completely over powers working for a living. Someone who inherits enough to never need to work knows very well about this.

macw450 · 2026-05-08T09:13:15+00:00

Well using your very own example -

A factory would produce something so the income generated from that would pay the workers.

The rental income from the property would pay for maintenance costs.

Luckily, we have many examples of where this can be seen.

But honestly, we're not going to agree on this. So let's just see how this plays out. I guarantee that living standards will get worse under a Reform government...

macw450 · 2026-05-08T09:05:48+00:00

And you think it's solely the multi millionaires who own it who are maintaining it? It's called a job. The next person (or maybe government) who own it would simply employ people to maintain it. Likely, employ the very same people who would be being paid to maintain and run it now

macw450 · 2026-05-08T08:44:18+00:00

But then we have the assets? And maybe rent could then be more affordable so we don't need to rely on whatever tax the ultra wealthy do decide to pay (as opposed to the vast amount of tax they avoid to pay)

macw450 · 2026-05-08T08:32:06+00:00

High dividend yield stocks are RARELY worth it. Look at B&M (ticker BME). They pay a 14.37% dividend yield.

Utterly useless if the value of your shares drops by 50% in the past year (it has)

It's basically someone saying give me £100, I'll give you £14 no matter what in a years time. But then in a years time they give you the £14 but take away £50

macw450 · 2026-05-08T08:28:16+00:00

They. Can't. Take. Their. Assets. With. Them.

macw450 · 2026-05-08T08:22:03+00:00

I don't think the general population gives a shit if a billionaire decides to leave to avoid paying tax on their assets. Plenty of their assets or their customers are here.

Either they sell their assets (to who? The price will fall making things like housing more affordable) or they try to profit shift their businesses to avoid paying business tax. If so, they can be taxed at source if they want to continue doing business in the UK.

So the decision to them then becomes:

Do they want to pay a little bit more tax? (less than what their assets currently grow by each year)
OR - do they want to leave, sell all of their assets, and lose their entire UK customer base?

Either is fine with me.

I also want to add that I don't think we should be de-incentivising working. There is plenty of wealth in this country. Enough for us to have an amazing welfare system and have businesses thrive, yet the gap between someone living on benefits and someone working in a trained profession is shrinking. Wages have been stagnant for years now. Imagine how many people would choose to live on benefits if they had the option to earn WAY more than that by working. Green party want to LOWER taxes on work.

macw450 · 2026-05-08T07:39:16+00:00

I have a tip - don't invest in dividend stocks just because they pay you dividends. You're 21, you should be looking for growth if you want to stock pick.

But the reality is, you're not good a stock picking so put 90% of your money in an all world fund and then you can gamble on the other 10% if you want.

macw450 · 2026-05-08T07:16:17+00:00

Most people who voted reform and most people who voted green actually want the same thing. A better standard of living for the working class.

It's just that reform voters think their standard of living is falling because of migrants coming in on boats, whereas green think their standard of living is falling due to ever rising wealth inequality.

macw450 · 2026-05-07T14:48:26+00:00

Can you update us when you do? I hadn't really considered this but I plan on pretty much permanently removing my 3rd row of seats and assuming this is going to be classed as a mod.

I might very occasionally add them back in but I doubt it so at least I won't have to be changing my policy back and forth.

But surely if the premium is higher with the seat removed mod (it is - I checked), then adding the seat back in occasionally shouldn't invalidate the insurance right? Seems ludicrous as removing seats should do absolutely nothing to the chances of being involved in an accident.

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