Investing & retirement
Regular investing, fund charges, employer matches and what it takes to stop working.
Everything here rests on two numbers you supply and nobody can promise: the return and the time. Time is the one that does the work. A pound invested for thirty years has to grow at a modest rate to become several; a pound invested for five has to grow at an implausible one.
The number people underrate is the annual charge. A fee taken from the balance is not a deduction, it is a permanent reduction in the growth rate, so its cost compounds exactly the way the growth does. A difference of one per cent a year takes a tenth or more of the final pot over a working life, which is why the fund charge calculators here exist at all.
- Retirement account What a workplace account grows to, with the employer match counted properly.
- Direct vs regular funds What the distributor commission inside a regular plan costs you over the years.
- Financial independence How long until the portfolio covers the spending, at your saving rate.
- Roth vs traditional Pay the tax now or later — and why the answer is just one comparison.
- Regular investing What investing a fixed amount every month grows to, with an annual step-up.