In the last newsletter, I introduced the 7 key issues to focus on to best reduce your financial stress during retirement. Rule number one is to protect yourself against catastrophic loss. While you are accumulating your retirement nest egg, declines in the stock market actually present a buying opportunity. However, once you stop working and are no longer adding to your investments these sudden and dramatic drops will be devastating to your retirement plan. During the first few years of retirement when you are just starting to take withdrawals, it is especially important to avoid major setbacks. In the bear market of 2007-2009, the

S & P 500 plummeted 54%. It is of utmost importance in retirement planning to escape this type of drawdown.               

     Protection against catastrophic loss involves more than just securing your investment portfolio. Good risk management means analyzing where the greatest risk to your net worth lies. It is impossible to foresee and eliminate every possible threat to your financial welfare. But it is prudent to take a broad look at your financial picture to see if there are any obvious major concerns. When analyzing catastrophic protection, it is very important to look at all of your insurance policies to see if you are properly protected.  From any property or liability claims. Consult with your agent to see if you have made any changes that could leave you bare of coverage. One area to place major emphasis on is health care catastrophic protection. You should evaluate both your various health care insurance policies as well as your investments to see how well they would respond to an unfortunate short or long term decline in health.              You have labored many years to build up your retirement assets. Do whatever is within your control to prevent losing much or all of it in a sudden catastrophic event. By following these steps you can eliminate much of the financial stress of retirement.