Currently, I don't use any of it. I keep track of the gains (which is how I know they outweigh my rent and bills), but because I still work, I pay the rent and

Currently, I don't use any of it. I keep track of the gains (which is how I know they outweigh my rent and bills), but because I still work, I pay the rent and bills out of wages and leave the investments alone. All my dividends get reinvested. I'm in the UK, and I've taken full advantage of the tax free savings scheme, currently allowing about 15000 GBP a year to be put into stocks and funds with no tax to pay on dividends or gains. There have been market downturns during the time I've done this (started around 2005). Generally, during a downturn, I scrape together as much spare cash as I can and invest it in things that seem cheap. April 2015 to April 2016 was something of a downturn, for example, and I ploughed extra money into the markets while prices were low.