How much capital do you need for €1,000 a month?

A planned monthly payout of €1,000 over twenty years means 240 payments. Multiplied out, that is €240,000 of scheduled cash flow. That figure is the reference point for the plan: it describes the payments, not the investment result.

If the capital simply sat in an account earning nothing, €240,000 would be consumed exactly. Because the capital stays invested while payments are made, the outcome depends on three things: the return the portfolio actually earns, the fees charged, and when the good and bad years occur.

The same arithmetic scales linearly. It tells you the size of the cash-flow commitment, not the probability that it can be sustained.

The illustrations below apply an assumed constant gross return each month, then a 2% annual management fee accrued monthly, then the €1,000 payout. They are mathematical scenarios, not forecasts, and real markets do not deliver constant returns.

A lower assumed return, a longer horizon or a poor first decade all require more starting capital for the same payout. The opposite is also true. Anyone quoting a single precise capital requirement for a fixed monthly income is describing a guarantee that an investment portfolio cannot give.

The practical approach is to size the payout conservatively relative to capital, to understand the fee drag, and to accept that remaining capital at the end is a variable rather than a promise.

Model your own figures with the monthly income plan calculator, compare the two portfolio approaches in Broad Market or Market Leaders, and read why timing matters in sequence-of-returns risk.