Set It and Forget It: Retirement Made Simple

By Michelle Kotler

How would you feel if you knew your investments would never lose money again?

 

If you answered something like, "Fantastic!,"  then "Set It & Forget It: Retirement Made Simple" is the book for you. 

 

Even when economic times are good, you still may face challenges and pitfalls that cause problems. Almost half of Americans run out of money in retirement.  How would you feel if you knew you'd never be one of them?  There is a way to get off the investment rollercoaster.  Stop worrying about the stock market, cryptocurrency, interest rates, bond prices, housing and tech bubbles, oil prices, and so forth.

 

"Set It & Forget It: Retirement Made Simple" provides proven, easy, and effective strategies that will teach you how to take control over your planning and give you peace of mind.  Sleep well at night knowing that your financial future is secure.

 

What part of your lifestyle are you willing to sacrifice if your investments decline dramatically after you retire?  If you'd rather not sacrifice anything, the time is now to shore up your strategy and create a stable future.  

 

Whether you've already saved a little or a lot, this information is a game-changer.  After you've finished, you'll probably think, "Why didn't I know about this sooner?"

 

Written by attorney, author, and independent retirement advisor Michelle Kotler, this e-Book is PACKED full of retirement planning information.  Learn about the risks you face and how to avoid them so you can relax, knowing you can take control and protect your financial future.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michelle Kotler
• Release date: Jul 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9798218048020

Book preview

Introduction

Why this book? Why me? Why now?

Turn your wounds into wisdom.

− Oprah Winfrey

A

s I write this book during the coronavirus pandemic, I’ve just turned 50 years old. I have been single, married, and divorced. I have two children, currently ages 22 and 18. Despite setbacks, I’ve survived. As I am writing this book, even in the face of COVID-19, I feel confident that I am financially stable and prepared for the future, come what may.

My life wasn’t always this way.

I started working at the age of 12. All my life, I did everything right — the way we were taught to do as kids; especially as girls.

Behave, do well in school, get a good job, be a good girl, get married, have 2.5 children, work hard, live within your means (with varying degrees of success), rely on your spouse’s pension for retirement (if you or your spouse is lucky enough to have a pension), save more money for retirement, and all will be well.

Except life, being what it is, didn’t quite turn out the way I’d imagined it would when I was 12 and had my first babysitting job. I had a thriving babysitting business. I was saving money and buying myself fun things, and felt confident the rest of my life would be as easy as this.

When I was young, my mother used to say, Michelle, you have to be able to stand on your own two feet. Even in the best of marriages, a man can get sick. A man can lose his job. A man can die. You have to get an education and be able to support yourself.

How right she was.

As I grew up, I made sure that I got a good education and avoided as much debt as I could. I earned three degrees, including a Juris Doctor, all at in-state public colleges. To save money, I lived at home and paid tuition with a combination of scholarships, work-study, loans, and my own tutoring jobs.

I got married, went to law school, had two children, and worked as a teacher, a school administrator, and a disability attorney. I juggled my thriving disability law practice with raising two young children until I could juggle no more.

When I decided to become a stay-home mother so I could be more present for my young children, I thought I would rely on my husband’s government pension, our savings, and Social Security. I banked on our marriage and enjoyed taking care of our kids.

Goodbye, retirement contributions. Hello, dependence! Life surprised me. We divorced after 13 years of marriage. Everybody leaves a divorce with regrets. My regret is that I didn’t ask for more of my fair share of the marital assets. I wish I had understood as much about the future value of money at that time as I do now. I encourage you (if you are married) to rid yourself of fear and become informed about all your marital assets. Know what you have and where it is at all times.

A few years later, I was humming along. I was working in my solo law practice (80–100 hours a week), traveling, dancing, taking care of my kids… I was enjoying my life.

Then one day, around the age of 41, my world turned upside down. I endured a major health challenge, which took me out of the workforce for almost three years.

Despite my three college degrees and a lifetime of work, I faced financial challenges that could happen to anyone unexpectedly. Some of them I handled with my savings, and for others, I got help.

I tried to get Social Security Disability Income, thinking I’d worked and paid taxes since I was 12 years old. Surely, there was a pot of money somewhere with my name on it. Of course, the government told me to go jump in the lake. I appealed the decision and finally won my case, three years later. By that time, I used all my resources to figure out what was wrong, heal myself, and move on.

Fortunately, I rehabilitated myself, went back to work part-time, and learned all I could about protecting myself financially in the future. The Social Security judge awarded me what is called a closed period, meaning he found me disabled between the time I stopped working and the time I returned. That pot of money replenished most of the savings I had drawn down while I was out of work. I bounced back, but it wasn’t easy. I was one of the lucky ones.

Health insurance pays your doctors if you get sick. Who pays your monthly bills when you are too sick to work? No one. If you’re out of work, who is funding your retirement plan? No one.

This experience taught me that having a long-term disability-insurance policy is imperative. Almost anyone can obtain one, but the healthier and younger you are, the easier and less expensive it is to get