The 4% Rule says that when you retire there is a finite amount of money you can pull out of your portfolio per year if you want your money to last your life expectancy. Based on Monte Carlo simulations, that number is 4%.

If you take more than 4% out of your portfolio during down years, you're getting hit twice. Too many years like that and your portfolio could go into a death spiral from which it may never recover.

If you want your money to last, 4% is all you should ever take out. For example, if you have a million dollars in your portfolio and take out only $40,000 per year, you can have a strong expectation that your money will last roughly 35 years.

Is there a way to beat the 4% rule? That's what the concept of the Volatility Shield is all about. If during the down years, instead of taking money out of your stock market portfolio, you take money out of a completely separate account. This can give your stock market portfolio a chance to recover. Studies have shown that with this strategy you can take out much more than 4%.

The Volatility Shield account must be safe and productive. It can't just be a savings account. It also has to be tax free and absolutely be in place before retirement.

The account that will best serve as a Volatility Shield is called the Life Insurance Retirement Plan. Many of those policies fulfill all four major criteria.

The funds for the account have to be in place before you retire and will probably come from the funds you are using for your retirement. Will you have enough lifestyle money accumulated before you retire based on what you're contributing? If the money is growing safely and productively, that could mean you will have 6-7 years of lifestyle money set aside for the inevitable down years in retirement.

The Volatility Shield will allow you to take a much higher withdrawal rate even though your retirement portfolio will have a little less money in it.

The Volatility Shield book is written a little differently than the other books. It's a fiction story that teaches the principles of the concept while delivering an unexpected narrative twist at the end.