Phil Cannella’s Story

As one of five kids, Phillip Cannella grew up in a working-class Philadelphia suburb. His family lived with his grandparents to make ends meet. Phil Cannella was an energetic boy labeled as a troublemaker, because of his dyslexia and the fact he just couldn’t sit still – something that he turned into an asset later on. Back in the 1950’s, there was no terminology or treatment protocols for today’s ADHD (Attentive Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).

While his other classmates moved on to third grade, Phillip Cannella was left behind. But that didn’t stop Phillip Cannella’s determination to succeed. He used sports to channel his energy in middle and high school.

Inspired by President Kennedy’s national physical fitness challenge, Phil Cannella competed in the US Marines Youth Physical Fitness Program and finished first overall. He beat 400,000 competitors nationally and was awarded an athletic scholarship by General Foods.

US Marines Brigadier General EB Meyer thought highly of 19-year old Phillip Cannella and gave his written endorsement of Phil Cannella’s self-discipline and leadership ability to influence others for the greater good.

Inspired by Brigadier General Meyer, Phillip Cannella entered the Reserve Officers Training Corp. of the US Marines and later received an honorable discharge.

Phillip Cannella went on to Cheyney University, but after one year, his grandfather suffered a stroke. Phil was forced to drop out of college to support his immediate family and pay for nursing home bills. He just couldn’t understand why after working a lifetime, people could lose their entire retirement nest egg paying for medical bills, nursing home facilities and help with daily living tasks.

Wondering how he could help others avoid the same precarious situation, Phillip Cannella went to Harrisburg to research the insurance industry. What he found was astonishing and marked a real turning point in Phil’s life. He discovered something called a nursing home rider which provided extra coverage for basic at-home care.

At that point, Phil Cannella felt that everyone should be aware of these coverage options. He studied to get his life insurance license and began selling nursing home insurance door-to-door.Things were going well for Phillip Cannella, but another difficult crossroad lie ahead.

Having built a nest egg, Phillip Cannella invested his hard-earned retirement money with a so-called reputable securities broker. Then 9/11 came and the stock market closed for three days. In the subsequent crash, Phil lost $400,000 of his $600,000 retirement portfolio. Phil Cannella learned quickly that the financial industry is stacked against the average retiree due to stock market volatility and biased financial reporting from mainstream media. As it still is today, Phillip Cannella realized back then that mainstream media is own by only a handful of media conglomerates whose stock is publicly traded on Wall Street. [Viacom (CBS), Comcast (NBC, MSNBC, CNBC), Walt Disney Corp (ABC), Time Warner (CNN) and 21^st Century Fox (FOX News).] It was clear to him that these major media conglomerates were focused on herding the public into the stock market through their reporters and journalists.

After personally experiencing the sting of Wall Street through one of its brokers concerned only with his own best interest and not Phil’s, Phillip Cannella came across a financial statement from a well-known international life insurance carrier showing a positive interest return through the market crash of ’01-’02. He began researching this investment and discovered a way to use a collection of them to grow clients’ money, while keeping them safe from another market catastrophe. This is how the proprietary Crash Proof Retirement System came to be.

Phillip Cannella sought out a specific grouping of these investment vehicles that could provide guaranteed principal protection, no fees, liquidity, and tax-favored income strategies. Phil Cannella found the answer – guaranteed financial investment vehicles based in the life insurance industry that could offer steady growth and at the same time, protect from market losses. He coined them as Crash Proof Vehicles.

Later in that same decade came a second devastating market crash, leaving those in or near retirement who invested in securities feeling the most pain. Realizing the American public was cautious to once again invest their life savings, Phillip Cannella was very understanding as to their reluctance.

As an extension of Phil Cannella’s passion for being consumer advocate, it made perfect sense for Phil Cannella to take his safe investing retirement message to the airwaves. In 2008, Phillip Cannella created The Crash Proof Retirement Show® to educate the public on his Crash Proof Retirement System, the backbone of which is Crash Proof vehicles that give retirees peace of mind knowing that their retirement savings is not only growing with the potential of double-digit returns, but are also protected from Wall Street’s market crashes, such as the ones in 2001 and 2008. Using his own money and building a state-of-the-art broadcast studio, Phil Cannella’s radio show, now hosted by Joann Small, President of Crash Proof Retirement can be heard weekly on Saturday and Sunday discussing everything from the dangers of variable annuities to investment suitability on the Crash Proof Retirement® Radio Show airing on Philadelphia’s Talk Radio 1210-AM, WPHT.

In 2016, Phillip Cannella opened the South Florida Regional Crash Proof Retirement® office in Palm Beach County, FL to serve the vast number of retirees in that area.

Today, Crash Proof Retirement® has more than 6,000 happy clients and over 300 of those gave very favorable testimonials about Phillip which can be viewed on Crash Proof Retirement’s® YouTube channel.

Phil passed away peacefully on January 8th, 2025, at 2:30 AM, surrounded by his wife, and longtime business partner Joann Small-Cannella, and his family. He was 69 years old.

Diagnosed with Stage 4 bile duct cancer on May 2nd, 2022, Phil fought his illness, as he lived his life, with great courage, grace, principles, and a determination to live each day to its fullest, working every day on behalf of The American Retiree to the very end.

Phil’s legacy is characterized by his unwavering commitment to consumer advocacy, always guided by a steadfast belief in truth, logic, and wisdom. Phil always believed, ‘In a world of deception…Truth and Logic will always prevail.’ Through this guiding philosophy, he transformed the financial landscape, 

Phil, along with Joann, 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 that the unparalleled consumer protection provided by The Exclusive Crash Proof Retirement® System will continue to grow and thrive into the future. Phil’s legacy lives on through our executive team led by Joann Small-Cannella and our newly appointed 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.

In his own words, ‘You can make a living from what you earn, but you can make a life from what you give.’

In honor of Phil’s legacy of charity, advocacy for the everyday American, and steadfast commitment to helping veterans, we ask that any donation made in Phil’s name be donated to the Semper Fi and America’s Fund by visiting: https://www.givesignup.org/PhillipJCannellaIII