32-year-old aims to retire at 40

In May 2014 we reported on the case of 30-year-old Kwasi who was aiming to retire by age 40. A year-and-a-half on and he is slightly nearer to his goal of generating £15,000 income a year from his investments. But there's still plenty of work to do.

Since we looked at his portfolio in May 2014, Kwasi has increased his investment portfolio held in an individual savings account (Isa) from £8,000 to £33,000 and bought a £350,000 buy-to-let investment.

In May 2014, Investors Chronicle's economist, Chris Dillow, and stockbroker Charles Stanley gave Kwasi some tips and ideas on how to improve his strategy.

Kwasi says: "The advice I received from Chris Dillow to put thoughts of a very early retirement on the back burner actually spurred me on to take a more aggressive approach. While I enjoy my job and seem to be good at it, I don't think there is any job that will give me the satisfaction of freedom. I also decided to move to consultancy work earlier than planned given the higher remuneration, which will give me more to invest.

"I have increased my exposure to property against Chris's advice because I felt leveraging would be a good use of capital. The rental property yield of 8.5 per cent should also provide an additional income, allowing me to invest more.

"I'm aiming for a £15,000 income based solely on the investment portfolio. I'll maximise my Isa subscription each year as a minimum and reinvest income and profits from other investments - aiming to put aside a total of £2,000 a month.

"My portfolio has a yield of about 5 per cent. I aim to increase the value 10-fold, keeping the yield at the same rate to achieve my income goals. I think it's a realistic goal, albeit ambitious. I may have to push out the timescale for my early retirement by a couple of years depending on how my investments perform.

"I went against Charles Stanley's recommendation in May 2014 to sell Royal Mail (RMG) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM), as well as investing in Taylor Wimpey (TW.). However, I did look to follow their advice on diversification, and have added both more stock and funds to bring the number of investments to over 20 as suggested."

We asked Chris Dillow and Charles Stanley to cast their eye over Kwasi's portfolio again.