‘On £36k, can I retire in 15 years at 47?’

How much he is investing monthly to achieve his goal How much he wants as annual income in his early retirement something like that already, after paying his mortgage and debts, and saving about £300 a month.

To have sufficient funds for his financial independence, including some state pension from age 68 (he won’t get a full state pension unless he pays for extra years after he stops working at 47), I calculate he will need a fund of at least £550,000.

That only gives about a 75pc chance of not running out of money if he maintains an aggressive strategy of investing. Interestingly, if he moves to a more balanced investment strategy in “retirement”, from age 47, then only a little more, £575,000, gives a 90pc chance of success.

Sadly, even saving £300 a month – and achieving an extremely high return of 20pc a year – would only get him to £260,000 by 47. While some of How much he would need to invest monthly to succeed the areas he currently invests in have exceeded that over the past few years, others have not. I would estimate the long-term returns for his portfolio to be closer to 9pc over the past 20 years.

That would put his portfolio closer to £180,000 at 47. A simple “tracker” portfolio – that mirrors global stock markets – would give close to that and be much cheaper and easier to manage.

I’m not sure the answer is to take more risk to try to improve returns though, and foreign exchange or FX trading should only be considered by those with money they can fully afford to lose without it affecting their lifestyle at all.

Sadly, I think he either needs to save an unrealistic amount, about £665 per month, or just work longer to, say, about age 57. Doing that, he could also pay the monthly savings into a pension, which would boost it by £75 per month, and that extra amount invested and compounded over time would give a huge boost to his end savings pot.

I think Mr Tetlow doesn’t so much need an investment plan as a lifetime financial plan.

This would help map out his finances over the years and figure out what money he will need to meet his lifestyle goals and when. If you’d like to be considered, please email money@ telegraph.co.uk with the subject line “Give me a Money Makeover” and provide the following information:

Your name, age and telephone number (we will not share this with anyone).

Your main financial goals (in as much detail as possible please), details of any debts (including mortgages) and how you would describe your attitude to investment risk.

Current investments, including cash, property and pensions.

You must be willing to be photographed for the article. Firstly, Mr Tetlow should retain his mortgage and just keep making the monthly payments, ensuring he has a competitive interest rate that matches his healthy equity in the property. The same applies to paying off his student loan from earnings, and any credit card debt prior to the 0pc offer coming to an end.

His investment portfolio is very high-risk, but he has a good spread of assets, and having them in an Isa will make them tax-efficient. Investment growth is free of tax, as are withdrawals.

I personally think he is being over-ambitious aiming to draw £20,000 off these investments in his late 40s. He is getting married so it may be wise to include his future spouse in his planning. He may have to compromise on this if they decide to have a family, move home, move country, move jobs or are made redundant. Life never goes to plan.

His current workplace defined benefit pension scheme is a great benefit and extremely rare now. The drawbacks are that the funds will not be accessible until age 63, which will not help with his shorter-term planning.

With regard to the FX trading, that is a definite no’– I have seen too many people lose money in this way.

Finally, to back everything up I would suggest some insurance protection planning. This will enable him to retain his current standard of living if he is unable to work for any reason. He should start by exploring income protection policies.