Bankai's Journal

Where are you and where are you going?
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Scott 2
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Re: Bankai's Journal - ERE mode:hard

Post by Scott 2 »

You probably will notice this, but unless you buy a nut milk fortified with pea protein, it is lower protein than soy milk.

I agree there is debate, which is what leads me to still allow 1-2 servings of soy a day. Without meat, it is a useful option to have in the diet.

Sabaka
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Re: Bankai's Journal - ERE mode:hard

Post by Sabaka »

That's a cool meal plan @Bankai. A bit of weird coincidence but I've just started bulking, and I also follow a diet which tries to minimise as much as possible animal products. I don't really like eating constantly though, so instead I've created a 'bulk shake' which I consume 5/7 days of the week. It's basically 100g powdered oats and 100g vegan protein powder, both from theproteinworks.co.uk. It's pretty cheap so it might be suitable if you fancied an alternative to the soy protein powder :)

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Bankai
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Re: Bankai's Journal - ERE mode:hard

Post by Bankai »

@Augustus - thanks for this, I've never looked into eating frequency vs cancer risk. I'm looking up relevant articles in PubMed.

@Sabaka - thanks for the suggestion, I just found a pretty cheap pea protein powder. Looking at the reviews, it's a typical trilemma, i.e. high quality & cheap, but tastes awful (unflavoured). Oh well, I'm sure some cinnamon & fruits will help. Re bulk shake, do you drink it all at once? The few articles I found on the subject seem to agree with the common practice of spreading proteins over multiple meals for best absorption. I.e. this review from last year:

Based on the current evidence, we conclude that to maximize anabolism one should consume protein at a target intake of 0.4 g/kg/meal across a minimum of four meals in order to reach a minimum of 1.6 g/kg/day. Using the upper daily intake of 2.2 g/kg/day reported in the literature spread out over the same four meals would necessitate a maximum of 0.55 g/kg/meal.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5828430/

Sabaka
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Re: Bankai's Journal - ERE mode:hard

Post by Sabaka »

@Bankai

No worries man :) Regarding how I consume the protein powder, I just dump the entire lot into my shaker and consume it throughout the day whilst at work. It usually takes a few refills (with water) to completely get through it, so I'm not downing it all at once or anything. This works for me because I don't eat lunch at work, so it helps to keep me going.

Just a word of warning about unflavoured pea protein powder. It is absolutely awful, like one of the worst tastes I've ever experienced. I tried mixing it with pretty much everything, but it just did not work for me. I ended up having to dump the bag. I'd just suggest buying a small bag of the stuff first just to make sure you're okay with it before going for the big bags :)

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Bankai
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Re: Bankai's Journal - ERE mode:hard

Post by Bankai »

@Sabaka

Too late, although I finally made it somewhat drinkable today. Added a banana, few dates, a fistful of blueberries and a teaspoon of mixed spice. Far from delicious but it only takes few seconds to drink.

Scott 2
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Re: Bankai's Journal - ERE mode:hard

Post by Scott 2 »

All protein tastes terrible, in my experience. I learned over the years to seek a neutral flavor, rather than good. The goal is something I can down quickly that won't fatigue my taste buds over time.

I currently pre-mix a scoop of protein, 1 tsp sugar, 1/2tsp alkalized cocoa, 1/2 heaping tsp creatine. When it comes time to drink it, I stir it into about 6 oz of warm water with a spoon. I am using an unflavored whey isolate, which could mix a little easier than the pea protein.

You might end up reading about spiking plant proteins with the amino acid leucine, in an effort to increase the muscle building stimulus. Be warned - leucine takes the foul taste to a whole different level. It is one of the few supplements I bought, then refused to consume. Awful.

Kriegsspiel
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Re: Bankai's Journal - ERE mode:hard

Post by Kriegsspiel »

Optimum Nutrition whey tastes great, and dissolves after a couple gentle stirs. I've tried a ton of different powders and it's the best. I usually get Rocky Road or Double Rich Chocolate.

niemand
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Re: Bankai's Journal - ERE mode:hard

Post by niemand »

+1 on the flavour of ON, this used to me my go to whey isolate. What I now do not like anymore is the long list of ingredients of ON and most other protein powders.
For the last couple years I’ve therefore been using a whey protein isolate powder with just 2 ingredients: whey protein isolate and soy lecitin. I add my own cocoa.

@Bankai, I like your meal plan and know you’re mostly but not strictly eating vegan, but I think you would increase your protein intake options greatly of you did consider whey.
Also I’d recommend you to look into intermittent fasting topic and the benefits of having extended non-eating phases of 12+ hours.

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Bankai
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February 2019 update

Post by Bankai »

Finances

Expenses in February were £1,055 or £527 per person (0.97 JAFI annualised). Excluding the capital part of the mortgage payment, expenses were £815 or £408 per person (0.76 JAFI annualised). Other than food and bills, we spent £313 on everything else. Biggest contributors were:

1) £80 on clothes
2) £66 on personal care
3) £53 on alcohol & eating out - 25% down on last month

Feb SR - 80.4% (inc. pension contributions and capital part of the mortgage payment).

YTD SR - 77%

NW - £87.8k. Although I'm still in cash, the one stock I kept went up nicely, as did my pension accounts.

Health

Workouts - 26 out of 28 days. I missed 2 days due to flu. Weight up slightly, however at one point I dropped 2 kg due to flu and it took me next 2 weeks just to get back to where I was. Disappointing, but such is life.

Walking - 258k steps vs. the target of 280k. YTD deficit increased by 22k but I'm not worried since it's typical for winter months.

I also started running (run 3k twice). I still don't like it, but I need some form of cardio so might as well run twice a week.

Other

With days getting longer I'm out of winter misery and back to more or less fully functional mode. I decided to start getting up at 6 am and move my workouts to the mornings. I've been doing it for 2 weeks now and I love it. My monrnings now look like this:

6am - alarm rings
6.15 meditate for 5-15 minutes
6.45 start work out (usually about 1h long)
7.45 shower
8 eat breakfast, prepare lunch and snacks for work
8.30 leave for work

Even though I'm working out on empty stomach, I haven't noticed any drop in performance. I'm considering having a smoothie first thing in the morning just to get some calories in as soon as possible. Will do some testing and see how I feel lifting 45 minutes after drinking it.

The biggest benefit is getting most of 'has to happen' stuff done before even leaving for work. This allows for relaxing evenings.

Goals for February:

1) Work out at least 90% of the days, with at least 2/3 being lifting days - I give myself pass here (9 'light' days this month)
2) Acquire a belt and start doing weighted chins/pull-ups - fail
3) Put together a feeding schedule of 3000kcal & 130g protein per day and follow it from tomorrow - pass
4) Read a book per week - I started reading 5 books but haven't finished any of them yet. Finishing them all will be my goal for March
5) With the market starting to look interesting again, go back to spending 20h per week on reading and researching - nope, didn't happen

Goals for March:

1) Work out at least 90% of the days, with at least 2/3 being lifting days
2) Acquire a belt and start doing weighted chins/pull-ups
3) Finish all 5 books I started in February
4) Back to reading about investing and researching shares - 20h per week

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Bankai
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Re: Bankai's Journal - ERE mode:hard

Post by Bankai »

@ Scott 2

The key to getting it down fast seems to be keeping consistency loose by not adding too much thickening stuff like bananas or dates.

@ Kriegsspiel

Optimum Nutrition only has one plant option and it's quite costly compared to cheap alternatives. I'm not sure how to compare quality between different powders, as long as amount and type of protein is similar.

@niemand

I'm not 100% vegan as I occasionally have something with a bit of milk or cheese in it (maybe a couple of times a month) but daily whey protein would be stretching it too far. I've been doing IF for about 1,5y previously and I liked it a lot. However, I won't gain any weight if I only eat 4-6 hours per day. It's also very hard to take over 3k of plant calories over just a few hours, much more doable if spread over 6-7 meals. One way to get at least some benefits would be to eat late breakfast and early dinner. I currently eat b/f at 8 am so if I stick to dinner by 8 pm, that's the 12 hours window. That would mean giant b/fs and 2 meals after work within 2 hours of each other. I'll try this out.

2Birds1Stone
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Re: Bankai's Journal - ERE mode:hard

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

I wouldn't worry about the smoothie first thing in the morning. Your glycogen levels are great for exercise when you first wake up. Training fasted first thing in the morning is my favorite way to goo too. Even a couple 100 calories right before a workout will require some digestion and will impede your athletic performance slightly (if exercise is vigorous). If it's Saturday and you will have a few hours before you workout upon waking, then the smoothie is a good idea.

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Bankai
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Re: Bankai's Journal - ERE mode:hard

Post by Bankai »

Yeah, that's my experience as well so far. It just feels natural to do it first thing in the morning on empty stomach. What I started doing is having smoothie right after work out and then follow it up with a proper breakfast. When I was working out in the evenings, I was less focused due to being up for 12-13 hours already and a bit tired after work etc. I was also taking more time between sets, and the workouts were dragging to 1.5y or more. Now I'm done within 45-60 minutes. Feels good.

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Bankai
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March 2019 update

Post by Bankai »

Finances

Expenses in March were £1,533 or £767 per person (1.4 JAFI annualised). Excluding the capital part of the mortgage payment, expenses were £1293 or £646 per person (1.19 JAFI annualised). Other than food and bills, we spent £600 on everything else. Biggest contributors were:

1) £243 on travel - booked air bnb & flights for a trip to Poland in summer
2) £107 on household - fixed few things at home which required replacement parts
3) £110 on eating out and alcohol - we had a lot of fun this month so was worth it
4) £100 - a couple of backpacks, chin up belt & room thermostat to settle 'it's boiling here! no it's freezing!' disputes in the bedroom once and for all (nope, didn't work)

So yeah, highest expenses in 8 months, however I'm not too worried and expect a reverse to the mean in April.

Mar SR - 69.1% (inc. pension contributions and capital part of the mortgage payment).

YTD SR - 72%

NW - £90.7k

Health

Workouts - 30 out of 31 days. The one day when I had gazillion things to do and simply forgot to work out annoyed me so much that I moved my workouts to the mornings. This proved to be great decision. Nothing better than leaving for work knowing that the most important task of the day is already accomplished (well, maybe not leaving for work would beat that). Weight is up slightly.

Walking - 270k steps vs. the target of 310k. YTD deficit increased by 40k to 110k.

Running is going well. I recently added 5k and will be adding a 10k run once a week as well. Times are 13:10 for 3k & 24:15 for 5k - not sure if these are OK or bad, however, I've never run much before so it's early stages (only run 9 times so far this year, which is probably more than the whole previous decade combined). The plan is to run 3 times a week eventually, 3k & 5k in the week & 10k in the weekend. This is on top of daily lifting.

Other

The morning routine is great. Some days I wake up naturally before the alarm goes off at 6 am. I built up meditating to 15 minutes and will be increasing it to 20 from next week. Having time limit on lifting sessions is great - helps to keep rest between sets short & keeps me from browsing the internet in between sets. There are still some inefficiencies in the morning routine and I think it's possible to squeeze another 15 minutes or so to read a passage from Aurelius/Seneca. I could then reflect on it while walking to work.

I really like to have structured mornings, however would not like my whole day/life to be like that. One of the great benefits of this approach is that I'm free not to plan anything for evenings on most days and just allow things to happen without feeling guilty that there's still something to be done.

Goals for March:

1) Work out at least 90% of the days, with at least 2/3 being lifting days - pass, although due to a deload week I've not reached 2/3rd of days being lifting days.
2) Acquire a belt and start doing weighted chins/pull-ups - pass. Oh man, even 5kg on the belt makes so much difference. Definitely a good move to get one.
3) Finish all 5 books I started in February - read/finished 6 books - this must be the best month in years reading wise! Hope to keep the momentum.
4) Back to reading about investing and researching shares - 20h per week - nope, still hasn't happened. Until the Brexit mess is sorted, I'm away from markets, and being away from markets doesn't exactly motivate to reading on investing.

Goals for April:

1) Work out at least 90% of the days, with 2/3 being lifting days
2) Read 4 books
3) Spend 10 hours a week reading and researching investing - I cut this target by 50% as it's more realistic

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2Birds1Stone
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Re: Bankai's Journal - ERE mode:hard

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

Your 5K time of 24:15 is very respectable, as most adults cannot run a single 8:00 mile, let alone 3 in a row.

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Bankai
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Re: Bankai's Journal - ERE mode:hard

Post by Bankai »

Thanks, 2B1S.

I never really liked running. I think this was because whenever I tried, I got out of breath and sore fairly easily. Which in turn was discouraging me from trying again until I forgot how bad it was. This is probably what happens to a lot of people who go to the gym for the first time in years, overdo big time and then swear to never do anything this foolish again. Fortunately, since I sticked to it for the last couple of months, I'm now past this initial period and I'm making slow progress each session. I don't get runner's high or anything, but it's not unpleasant anymore. And since it's good to have some longer-term goal to work towards, I'll make it below 20 minutes by this time next year. Is it possible? I don't see why not, although it certainly won't be easy.

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Bankai
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April update

Post by Bankai »

Finances

Expenses in April were £1,630 or £815 per person (1.5 JAFI annualised). Excluding the capital part of the mortgage payment, expenses were £1390 or £695 per person (1.28 JAFI annualised). Other than food and bills, we spent £720 on everything else. Biggest contributors were:

1) £315 on clothing - I don't know what to say so I'll say nothing
2) £107 on stuff - I mentioned to DW that plastic containers are gross again after microwaving lunch in them few times (sauce gets boiled into them). A couple of days later, we are happy owners of 4 premium glass containers with plastic lids, 2 premium silicon sandwich bags and 3 premium reusable food storage wraps (total £66). At least I won't have to worry about plastic containers anymore...
3) £100 on eating out and alcohol - I went out with people from work and spent £60 on food and drinks. I've never spent this much on a night out. I should've known better...

Reverse to the mean not only hasn't happened, but we managed to top previous month's expenses. Oh well, seems like we hit the bottom so the only way from here is up.

Apr SR - 67% (inc. pension contributions and capital part of the mortgage payment).

YTD SR - 70%

NW - £92.7k

Even with these preposterous expenses, I managed to save two-thirds of my income this month. YTD SR dropped to 70% - I'm aiming at 75-80% this year so need to up my game big time in Q2-Q4. NW is on track to hit £100k by July. I actually hoped to be able to live off £100k some 5-6 years ago. Well, this is not really realistic with my current arrangements. How much do I need then? Trailing 6 months expenses are ~£650 so £195k assuming constant expenses. I can (and will) do much better than this though and should be able to 4% with ~£160k. Which means another 3-3.5 years with current savings rate, no pay increases and no investment growth. This is the worst case scenario though, so more realistically I'm probably looking at another 2.5 years or so. I can live with that, considering I actually don't mind my job. But since I plan to work until 40 anyway (~3.5 years more), I'm more likely to retire with some margin of safety over 4% rule. If I cut expenses to £500 then £200k would mean 3% SWR - as safe as money can get you. So, future (at least financial) looks bright, despite low income (by this place standards).

Health

Workouts - 30 out of 30 days.

20 days lifting, 5 days running, 5 days light (mainly abs and stretching).

Walking - 340k steps vs. the target of 300k. YTD deficit reduced by 40k to 70k.

I think running 3 times per week might be overly optimistic with everything else going on. I revise the goal down to once every 4 days.

Other

Here are my thoughts on meditation - I stopped after around 2 months of daily practice.
Bankai wrote:
Sun Apr 21, 2019 3:30 pm
I've been meditating fairly consistently (~6x / week) for a couple of months now and I'm close to throwing in the towel.

I started with a few minutes and I gradually built up to 20 minutes every morning. However, I just don't see how this benefits me. Since this could be due to a number of reasons, describing what I actually do and how I feel might help.

I sit in a lotus position with eyes closed and focus on breathing. I count each breath in and out until I get to 10 and then start again. I also do 4x4 (4-sec breath in, 4-sec hold, 4-sec out, 4-sec hold, repeat 4 times). In moments when I'm fully present, I focus either on sounds around me or on sensations in different parts of my body. Most of the time though, I find myself chasing random thoughts crossing my head - this sometimes takes 30 seconds or longer before I realise I'm not present and refocus. I don't feel fundamentally different in any way while meditating. Focusing on several sounds at the time is quite an interesting feeling, but that's about it. I don't feel any calmer or more focused during or after, or in any way different/better.

So far, after ~50 sessions, I just feel like this is not for me. Have anyone else experienced this? Or am I doing something fundamentally wrong/should stick with it longer/try guided meditation first?
Mentally, I'm in a weird spot. On paper my life is great. I have great health, loving wife, good job, a core group of close friends, money piling up,
plenty of free time to pursue web of goals or pleasant distractions activities. Yet, I'm not happy. Something is missing. To the point when I'm considering drastic actions like leaving everything and restarting somewhere else. I 'know' that my life is in an uptrend, but it 'feels' like I'm in a smaller spike down within this bigger uptrend. Not sure what the future will bring, but the present feels suffocating.

Goals for April:


1) Work out at least 90% of the days, with 2/3 being lifting days - pass
2) Read 4 books - fail, only read 1 book, have several others started
3) Spend 10 hours a week reading and researching investing - fail, did nothing

Goals for May - the same as for April:

1) Work out at least 90% of the days, with 2/3 being lifting days
2) Read 4 books
3) Spend 10 hours a week reading and researching investing

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Bankai
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May update

Post by Bankai »

Finances

Expenses in May were £1,613 or £807 per person (1.5 JAFI annualised). Excluding the capital part of the mortgage payment, expenses were £1,373 or £687 per person (1.28 JAFI annualised). Other than food and bills, we spent £670 on everything else, most of which was on our recent trip to Poland (mainly alcohol, eating out and rail fares). There will be some more similar expenses in June update (we just came back), but other than that, we've not spent on anything out of ordinary in May.

May SR - 85% (inc. pension contributions and capital part of the mortgage payment)

YTD SR - 74%

NW - £95.2k

I'm still on track to hit £100k in July/August, as long as I won't have any other unusual expenses.

Health

Workouts - 31 out of 31 days.

14 days lifting, 3 days running, 14 days light (abs and/or pushups).

Walking - 388k steps vs. the target of 310k. YTD now in surplus vs 10k a day target.

I'm up 5kg since I started lifting and it turns out 5kg on someone very skinny is noticeable since people start to comment.

Other

We went for a 2 week trip to Poland. The total cost was ~£770 or 600 excluding dentist and clothing we bought. That's around the same what we spend in the UK in 2 weeks, and it included flights, accommodation and almost daily eating out and drinks. Not bad and another proof that travelling can be done on a cheap.

Goals for May:

1) Work out at least 90% of the days, with 2/3 being lifting days - didn't manage to hit 21 days of lifting due to the trip to Poland, but still exercised every day in May
2) Read 4 books - read 3
3) Spend 10 hours a week reading and researching investing - still hasn't happened. I decided not to play any games until I hit 10 hours of investing reading/research each week.

Goals for June:

1) Work out every day, with 2/3 being lifting days
2) Read 4 books
3) Spend 10 hours a week reading and researching investing

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Sabaka
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Re: Bankai's Journal - ERE mode:hard

Post by Sabaka »

Good work Bankai, nice update! Well done on continuing exercise whilst on holiday, can be the hardest thing to do I think :lol: Congratulations also on getting nearer to the £100k goal. Out of interest, what books are you reading at the moment? And why do you want to dedicate so much time to researching investing? Are you a stock-picker yourself of is it just out of interest?

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Bankai
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Re: Bankai's Journal - ERE mode:hard

Post by Bankai »

Thanks, Sabaka!

My current reading list (I always read several things at the time):

- Atomic Habits
- Emotional Intelligence
- 52 Small Changes for the Mind
- How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World (re-reading)
- Homo Deus

Regarding investing, yes, I pick stocks. However, I'm out of the markets since October due to all the Brexit nonsense. I'm looking to start buying stocks again at some point this summer, but I'm in no rush.

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Bankai
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Playing with numbers

Post by Bankai »

As I'm nearing £100k NW number, I run some calculations on possible semi-ERE and full ERE.

Current NW - £95k
Current expenses - £680 pm
Expenses assuming paid off mortgage - £500 pm
NW required to pay off my half of the mortgage - £47k

Semi ERE is actually possible right away. I can pay off my half of the mortgage today if I want. The remaining £48k would generate ~£2k pa (assuming 4% return). My spending level (excl. mortgage) is £500 a month (based on the average for the last 6.5 years). This means I only need £4k pa to cover the shortfall. This translates to ~500h of minimum wage job (@ £8.21/h) - 10h a week or 3 months a year.

So, I could quit my job right away and pick up a random job with one 10h shift per week.

Would I like that? Perhaps, however, I don't have any pressing need for more free time and my job is at least tolerable.

If I stick with it for another year, my NW with grow to ~£125k (22k from new savings & 3k from 4% return; ignoring house appreciation). This would increase invested assets to £75k (again, assuming paid off mortgage) generating £3k pa. The shortfall of £3k could then be covered by 365h of minimum wage job. Conveniently, that's an hour per day. If I could find a remote job for min wage (I'm sure there are plenty), I could actually work only one hour per day and be done with work at 7 am each morning. I think I would like that more than one big shift per week.

What if I worked for two years instead? NW would be £145k, £47k of which in flat equity and £98k generating £4k pa returns. Remaining £2k would now only require ~240h of work, or 1 hour a day M-F with 20 days off. Alternatively, 6 weeks of full-time minimum wage job pa.

What about full ERE?

To cover £500 pm I'd need £150k (@4% return). Additionally, £47k needed for paid off flat, for a total of ~£200k.

This requires about 4 more years of full-time work at current income and spending level and 4% return. Less if I either get a pay rise or achieve more than 4% return (both likely). So what I'm really looking at is about 3-3.5 years more (4 years in worst case scenario of both income and returns stagnating).

How resilient is this plan?

Well, of the £500 pm expenses, £280 are mandatory (bills and food) and £220 are discretionary (clothes, travel, eating out, drinking, gifts, unclassified). This means that in times of trouble I could cut ~40% of my spending without much difficulty. Combined with 10 weeks of minimum wage job to cover remaining £280 pm for a year this would allow for the stash to remain untouched if equities have a bad year.

Additionally, if I work for another 4 years, I'd have a total of 17 years of state pension contributions translating into £5.2k pa income from 68 yo onwards. At 68 I'd only need to cut expenses by £800 pa or have a £20k portfolio to support myself from state pension alone - useful if things go terribly wrong and all investments go down to nil.

Although I'm not planning any radical changes in the near future, it's good to have these options written down in case situation at work deteriorates or I discover my true calling and decide to dedicate all my time to it.

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