Summary: You’ve worked hard, you’ve lived within your means and you’ve invested wisely. But, if your portfolio gets wiped out by a downturn in the market or whittled away by healthcare expenses, all your careful planning could fall apart. The good news is that you can protect yourself.<br> Michael Reese, author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Retiring-Well-Enjoy-Retirement-Economy-ebook/dp/B07BHYNNB5/&tag=authorhour-20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Retiring Well</a>, is the president and founding principle of Centennial Wealth Advisory. In his 20-plus years in the financial industry, he’s trained more than a thousand financial advisers in retirement planning strategies.<br> As the host of the TV show Retiring Well, he’s also become one of America’s most recognized retirement planning professionals. In this episode, you’ll learn how to achieve financial stability regardless of what the market does. The retirement you deserve is within your reach and with solid time tested advice, Michael will help you avoid common pitfalls so that you can claim a secure future.<br> <br> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Retiring-Well-Enjoy-Retirement-Economy-ebook/dp/B07BHYNNB5/&tag=authorhour-20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a>Get Michael’s new book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Retiring-Well-Enjoy-Retirement-Economy-ebook/dp/B07BHYNNB5/&tag=authorhour-20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Retiring Well</a> on Amazon.<br> Find out more from <a href="http://cenadvisors.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Centennial Advisor</a>.<br> <br> <br> Michael Reese: Christmas of 2002, that’s when I had to tell my parents how I managed to lose roughly half of their life savings over the first three years of their retirement.<br> You see, my dad had retired back in January of 2000. This was right after the 90s, when the markets are roaring. We were trained stocks for the long run. All you need is a diversified portfolio of market securities and gosh, if you’re helping retirees, just make sure you have a lot of dividend-paid stocks and everything will be fine.<br> When my parents retired, following what I had been taught, I put them in a diversified portfolio, but it was mostly stocks.<br> Shortly thereafter, as the market started to go south, you might remember a plane flew into a building in New York City, something no one expected. The economy was a mess, and by the time we were three years in the retirement, like a lot of people, half their money was gone.<br> <br> Never Again<br> Michael Reese: Thirty years he saved money. It only took me three years to lose half of it. I don’t think my parents blamed me, in fact, I’m sure they didn’t because all their friends were experiencing the same thing. But I sure blamed myself.<br> I remember talking to my parents about reviewing their portfolios, reviewing how half their money was gone. My mom was in a state of confusion, looked at me and she said, “I don’t understand, what does that mean?”<br> They were living off the income from this portfolio and I told her, I said, “Mom, you know that income you’ve been getting from your portfolio there, that you’ve been using to spend to go travel and do the things you wanted to do in retirement? Well, turns out, you’ve got to cut that money in half.”<br> She’s like, “Well, but for how long?”<br> <br> I had to look my mother in the eyes and tell her, “Mom, for the rest of your life.” <br> <br> I got to tell you, I felt about an inch tall at that point.<br> They’re one of the very fortunate few because my dad had a large pension, social security, and when he retired, his company made a financial mistake at paying him his severance package. Turned out that they owed him money.<br> He actually recently collected a check and was able to pay off the house. The mortgage payment that they just erased happened to match up pretty closely with the amount of money that they lost,...
