If you have ever thought about planning for retirement, you should read this.

In the course of my work as an independent financial adviser, I have done retirement planning for many people. In our initial discussion, most people tend to plan their retirement using very optimistic assumptions. But I always share with my clients the story of “the horse-may-talk.” And most people take it as a joke.

The reality is, in good times when the economy is booming, you get your job promotion, your investment grows, everything looks rosy. But when the crisis comes (such as now), something totally unexpected may happen, and if you don’t handle it properly, your retirement plans will be derailed for years.

Retirement planning is not just discussions about investing. The fact is, it doesn’t matter if you invest or not, you will face a recession at some point in time. A recession may cause