# Have $1M-$30M? DON'T use the 4% rule

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/managing-tech-millions-6705312/have-1m-30m-don-t-use-the-4-rule
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/managing-tech-millions-6705312/have-1m-30m-don-t-use-the-4-rule.md
Podcast: [Managing Tech Millions](https://stenobird.com/podcast/managing-tech-millions-6705312)
Published: 2026-08-25T13:00:53+00:00
Episode link: http://www.managingtechmillions.com/
Audio file: https://audio3.redcircle.com/episodes/46411b1d-5906-4a2e-baf1-518984394489/stream.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/managing-tech-millions-6705312/episodes/have-1m-30m-don-t-use-the-4-rule
Duration seconds: 853

## Resource

In 2012 I had millions in the bank and no income strategy. Every advisor told me the same thing: 60/40 portfolio, 4% rule, you're set for life. Then I went and read the research behind that rule. It comes from a 1994 study, and what it leaves out is the thing that can end a retirement in the first three years. So I spent the next decade studying how ultra-wealthy families actually pay for their lives. I interviewed Chief Investment Officers at Single Family Offices and took their portfolio structures apart. What I found made me angry. The strategy isn't complicated. It's been kept quiet by firms charging you 1% a year to sit in the same cookie-cutter portfolio they sell someone with $500K. Families with generational wealth follow one rule about their assets, and everything else is built around it. Follow it and a 30% market drop stops being a threat to your retirement. In this video I walk through the structure I built, what my own numbers looked like the year I walked away at 51, and the four steps I'd take if I were starting from scratch today.

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## Transcript

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