Eli Mitcham has seen this type of stock market before. His career as a financial advisor has witnessed the wonderful side of the stock market, as well as arguably one of the worst sides. Starting his career near the end of the bull market of the 90’s, Mr. Mitcham is a bit more defensive with many of his clients.

“The majority of my career has been marked by stock market challenges. I’ve learned that we live in different times today. The most recent decade has been a challenge for those investing in the stock market. But, there are certainly valuable lessons to learn from each of the past two decades,” Mitcham points out.

Interestingly, it wasn’t the stock market that led Eli Mitcham to explore a profession in retirement planning. Early in his career, he developed a passion for asset protection out of his own family’s tragic experience with catastrophic illness and unexpected healthcare bills. He founded an asset protection planning firm, in 2001 as a direct result of his involvement in his own family’s dilemma. To date, Eli has seen three great-grandparents and one grandparent spend a total of 16 years in skilled nursing facilities. The cost to his family has been astronomical.

Out of this financial struggle, he discovered many legal methods to protect assets from lawsuits, creditors, and catastrophic healthcare costs WITHOUT buying expensive insurance. Many of these strategies are still unknown to CPA’s and attorneys today without extensive research.

It was through this specialization in asset protection planning that Eli became deeply involved in the academic study of how to manage downside risk in an investment portfolio. Mr. Mitcham now brings a fresh and unique approach to the investment world by incorporating disciplined methodologies firmly grounded in the academic principles of modern portfolio theory, behavioral finance studies, and technical stock market analysis.

“The bear market of 2000-02 and the most recent financial crisis has taught me some valuable lessons,” Mitcham said.

In this new age of retirement, many hopeful investors are watching their portfolios with anxiety as they begin to realize that their money may need to last them for 30-40 years in retirement.

Mitcham continues, “the concerns of my clients center around three major areas of increased risk retirees face today. The first is how to address the need for a reliable income stream during these difficult times in the stock market and economy.

Second, with the potential of tax rates increasing, we focus on how to possibly reduce income taxes now and in the future.

And finally, a major concern of retirees is health care. We focus on strategies designed to help retirees preserve their assets if they need to receive some sort of extended health care later in life.”

Investing for retirement is different than investing in retirement, Mitcham suggests.

“The truth is, when you are in retirement, you simply have much less ability, if any, to ‘make up’ for losses,” he says. “This is why my company puts a focus on striving for reliable income streams, and investment strategies that have features within them that may help reduce the risk of exposure from a downturn in the market.”

While Eli cautions that any investment strategy carries inherent elements of risk and cannot guarantee against loss, he’s happy to share additional ideas to help retirees gain valuable insight and confidence by clicking here.

Eli Mitcham is an Investment Advisor Representative of and advisory services offered through Sustain Wealth Advisors, LLC.  A Registered Investment Advisor.