Richrme
July 2026 · from your cost sheet
Your freedom number
How much you would need invested for an ETF’s yearly return to cover your living costs.
Month
Cost view
Currency
What you need invested to live off the return
One number per fund, because each one earns at a different rate. Spending the whole average return, the answer is AED 1,480,938 – AED 2,435,992 — not the AED 7,460,226 the cautious 4% rule asks for.
SWDA / IWDA12.25% a year
AED 2,435,992
8.2× your annual costs
12% funded · 15.3 years away
CSPX14.46% a year
AED 2,063,686
6.9× your annual costs
14% funded · 12.1 years away
EQQQ20.15% a year
AED 1,480,938
5.0× your annual costs
19% funded · 7.4 years away
Your living costs, annualised
AED 298,409
AED 24,867 a month, rolling
Tracked value today
AED 286,073
IBKR and OKX · emergency fund excluded
At a 4% withdrawal rate
AED 7,460,226
24.3 years away · 25.0× your annual costs
Return basis
10-year annualised
Switch it above
Where the number comes from
Every line you pay each month has a pot behind it. This splits AED 2,435,992 — the capital SWDA / IWDA would need at 12.25% a year — across the categories your money goes to.
Housing
AED 603,429
AED 6,160 a month · 25% of the number
Groceries
AED 405,820
AED 4,143 a month · 17% of the number
Transport & Mobility
AED 286,002
AED 2,920 a month · 12% of the number
Travel
AED 254,860
AED 2,602 a month · 10% of the number
Pets
AED 197,997
AED 2,021 a month · 8% of the number
Shopping
AED 195,906
AED 2,000 a month · 8% of the number
Food - Dine In
AED 162,506
AED 1,659 a month · 7% of the number
Utilities
AED 155,021
AED 1,583 a month · 6% of the number
Food - Delivery
AED 68,632
AED 701 a month · 3% of the number
Subscriptions
AED 41,512
AED 424 a month · 2% of the number
Beauty
AED 29,603
AED 302 a month · 1% of the number
Fun & Leisure
AED 20,538
AED 210 a month · 1% of the number
Health
AED 14,165
AED 145 a month · 1% of the number
Cutting AED 1,000 a month from any of these takes AED 97,959 off the number — permanently.
Living off the annual return
iShares Core MSCI World
1,281 companies across 23 developed markets
SWDA / IWDA · ISIN IE00B4L5Y983
71.8% United States · 28.8% information technology · P/E 25.8
12.25%
10-year annualised return
Invest this much
AED 2,435,992
8.2× your annual costs
Time to get there
15.3 years away
AED 2,149,919 to go, at AED 1,100 a month
Your pot earns today
AED 2,920
a month, covering 12% of your living costs
Total return, to date
Last 12 months20.43%
3 years, annualised18.18%
5 years, annualised11.26%
10 calendar years, annualised12.25%
Since Sept 2009, annualised11.06%
What the ride looked like
Worst calendar year-18.03% in 2022
Best calendar year+27.76% in 2019
Losing years of last 102 of 10
Ongoing charge0.20% a year
The most diversified of the three, and the one whose return is least dependent on a single market. It also has the lowest historical return, so it needs the most capital. If you only hold one fund, this is the conventional answer.
iShares Core S&P 500
The 500 largest US companies
CSPX · ISIN IE00B5BMR087
504 holdings · 36.7% information technology · top 10 are 37.6% of the fund
14.46%
10-year annualised return
Invest this much
AED 2,063,686
6.9× your annual costs
Time to get there
12.1 years away
AED 1,777,613 to go, at AED 1,100 a month
Your pot earns today
AED 3,447
a month, covering 14% of your living costs
Total return, to date
Last 12 months19.28%
3 years, annualised19.02%
5 years, annualised12.55%
10 calendar years, annualised14.46%
Since May 2010, annualised14.15%
What the ride looked like
Worst calendar year-18.35% in 2022
Best calendar year+31.02% in 2019
Losing years of last 102 of 10
Ongoing charge0.07% a year
Cheapest fund on this page at 0.07% a year, and a higher historical return than MSCI World for a similar ride. The catch is that it is one country: everything depends on US companies continuing to outperform.
Invesco EQQQ Nasdaq-100
The 100 largest non-financial Nasdaq listings
EQQQ · ISIN IE0032077012
104 holdings · 57.9% information technology · 97.1% United States
20.15%
10-year annualised return
Invest this much
AED 1,480,938
5.0× your annual costs
Time to get there
7.4 years away
AED 1,194,865 to go, at AED 1,100 a month
Your pot earns today
AED 4,804
a month, covering 19% of your living costs
Total return, to date
Last 12 months22.08%
3 years, annualised21.94%
5 years, annualised14.01%
10 calendar years, annualised20.15%
Since Dec 2002, annualised12.24%
What the ride looked like
Worst calendar year-32.63% in 2022
Best calendar year+54.47% in 2023
Losing years of last 102 of 10
Ongoing charge0.30% a year
The highest historical return by a wide margin, so on paper it needs the least capital. It is also the most concentrated: 104 names, nearly 58% in one sector. Its worst year lost a third of its value, and since inception it has returned less per year than the S&P 500 because it was destroyed in the dot-com crash.
Spending the full average return is the optimistic case. Each of these funds lost money in two of the last ten calendar years.
Three funds that hand you cash quarterly or monthly, so you never sell a unit in a bad year — at the cost of a lower expected return, from AED 9,413,534 of capital upwards.
Every figure is past performance, quoted in USD, net of fund charges. A calculation from your own numbers, not investment advice.