Retirement

Retirement Risks

Retirement planning must manage several risks at once, including longevity, inflation, market losses, sequence risk and changing expenses.

4 min

Retirement 101 • 10

Retirement has more than one kind of risk.

The challenge is not only earning a return. It is keeping income and assets useful through an uncertain future.

Some risks become more important after employment income stops.

A market decline can be harder to recover from when you are withdrawing money at the same time.

Major retirement risks can include

01Living longer than expected02Inflation03Market declines04Poor returns early in retirement05Unexpected health or housing costs06Tax and benefit interactions

Longevity and market risk pull in different directions.

01

Longevity risk

You need money to last for a long time.

02

Market risk

Taking too much investment risk can create damaging losses.

Timing can matter even when average returns look similar.

Portfolio ABad returns early, better later
Portfolio BBetter returns early, bad later
Average returnCould be similar
With withdrawalsEnding outcomes can differ

Avoiding all market risk can create other risks.

Holding too much low-growth money for decades can increase inflation and longevity pressure.

Retirement planning balances

01Reliable income02Flexible spending03Diversification04Liquidity05Tax planning06A plan for long life

Remember this

Retirement risk is a balancing problem.

The plan needs to survive bad markets, rising prices, changing costs and the possibility that retirement lasts a very long time.

Lesson complete

Reviewed 2026-08-18

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