The great Alabama coach “Bear” Bryant once said, “Defense wins championships,” and you can bet every great coach in every sport has shared that same philosophy. Just think about some of the great sports dynasties, teams that won championships year after year: The Green Bay Packers under Vince Lombardi, the Boston Celtics under Red Auerbach, the Yankees under Joe Torre…you could go on and on. All of these teams knew how to score, yes, but they all started with the premise that a strong defense made their offense better. Strategically, they knew how to win games, but they focused first on strategies that ensured they wouldn’t lose games. Why is that same approach so critical when it comes to your finances and, in particular, saving and investing for retirement? Well, it’s simply because when you’re talking about your “life savings”, losses can potentially have a huge impact on your life! How huge? Well, consider the fact that if you have all or most of your investments in the stock market and your portfolio loses 50 percent of its value, you need to regain 100 percent of it in order to break even; that takes time, and depends on the market not dropping again…

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