Every day we hear new stories about the financial crises facing older Americans.  More and more retirees find themselves pinched by lower interest rates, falling stock prices, market jitters and corporate malfeasance.

It seems like every time you think things can’t get any worse, something else comes along to make the situation even more precarious. And while the current state of affairs is certainly cause for concern, today’s retiree’s also need to stay focused on the long term.

“One of the biggest mistakes people make” says financial educator and CPA Paul Grangaard, “is to plan for average life expectancies in retirement.  People are living much longer today than in the past,” he says, “ and they have to plan that way too.”

Grangaard has been teaching financial planning and retirement seminars for than eight years, and he recently decided it was time to take his message about managing money during retirement directly to consumers.  The result is his new book, “The Grangaard Strategy- Invest Right During Retirement.”

“Never before have so many people retired so early, lived so long and been so completely on their own,” says Grangaard. “The aging of America and the accelerated growth in self-managed retirement accounts like 401[k] plans and rollover IRAs has set the stage for a national financial catastrophe, he says.  His new book guides readers through the “Tweleve Principles of Twenty-First Century Retirement Investing,” and demonstrates how to protect yourself from the kinds of investment markets we’re seeing today and from the real possibility of running out of money too soon.