Meet Phil Cannella
Phil Cannella dedicated his life to protecting the retirement security of everyday Americans. As the visionary founder of Crash Proof Retirement®, he developed the Exclusive Crash Proof Retirement® System — a consumer-driven approach designed to shield those in and near retirement from the volatility, fees, and corruption of Wall Street. Over the course of his 51 year career, Phil helped safeguard the futures of more than 6,000 American retirees, ensuring they could enjoy peace of mind and security in their golden years.
Phil’s mission was born out of personal hardship. When Phil was attending college, his grandfather suffered a debilitating stroke shortly after retiring, leaving the Cannella family to face crushing nursing home costs that consumed a lifetime of savings. From that moment, Phil vowed to find a way to protect others from similar financial devastation. He began his career in the insurance industry, pioneering long-term care solutions in an effort to provide everyday Americans the solutions his grandfather never had.
After the 2001 market crash, Phil recognized that traditional investment strategies were failing those in-or-near retirement so he began scouring the financial life insurance industry for solutions. After extensive research he identified the most consumer driven vehicles in the industry, which withstood the market crash following the Dot-Com Bubble of 2001, and used them as the foundation of the Exclusive Crash Proof Retirement® System. When the Crash of 2008 struck, Phil’s newfound system protected every penny of his client’s nest eggs, and even credited interest during the historic market storm. Phil took action to let the public know about this now proven safe haven. In November 2008, he launched The Crash Proof Retirement® Show on Philadelphia’s #1 talk radio station, 1210 WPHT, where he exposed Wall Street’s failures and educated the public about proven alternatives to risky stock market investing that the mainstream financial news media chose to ignore. In an effort to expand his message nationally, he started his own media company, Retirement Media, Inc., arming American retirees across the country with financial truth, transparency, and clarity.
After over 16 years on air, Phil became known not only as a financial innovator but also as a passionate consumer advocate. He conducted exclusive and groundbreaking interviews with the brightest minds in finance, economics, and politics challenging and exposing an industry built to benefit institutions at the expense of the everyday investor, especially retirees. His voice resonated far beyond finance, with philanthropic contributions to organizations such as The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, The Vietnam Veterans of America, The Tunnel to Towers Foundation, and the Semper Fi and America’s Fund. True to his philosophy, Phil often said: “You can make a living from what you earn, but you can make a life from what you give.”
In Memoriam
Phil Cannella passed away peacefully on January 8, 2025, at the age of 69, after a courageous battle with cancer. He lived every day with the same passion, principles, and determination that defined his life’s work. As he often reminded others: “It’s not the number of years in your life, it’s the life you put into the years you live.”
Phil, along with his long-time business partner and bride Joann Small-Cannella, took great care over the years, even before falling ill, to ensure that the safeguards, protections, philosophies, and core values that have always been the foundation of Crash Proof Retirement® will live on and continue to grow and thrive into the future. Phil’s legacy lives on through our executive team led by Joann Small-Cannella and our Chief Executive Officer Traci Stillman, as well as our team of consumer advocates at Crash Proof Retirement® – all of whom share the same foundational values that made Phil the financial gladiator he was. We are forever indebted to the knowledge and passion he shared with us and our promise to Mr. Cannella is to always preserve his legacy forever. His vision continues to drive Crash Proof Retirement® forward in the pursuit of a better life for all Americans.
