Help your clients conquer the four real risks of retirement

The L.I.V.E. Risks

• Longevity: The longer clients live, the more downturns (and upmarkets) they'll face.

• Inflation: Rising costs amplify the strain of market losses.

• Volatility: Market downturns can spark panic selling and “buy high/sell low” behavior.

• Emotion: Fear and euphoria often drive clients to act at the worst possible times.

Retirement is so much more than a number in an account—it’s about real people making important choices and navigating big emotions along the way.

Your clients are facing four major retirement challenges every single day: Longevity, Inflation, Volatility, and Emotion. But here’s the thing: Your expertise is their greatest asset. With you in their corner, they can understand these risks, prepare for them, and build the retirement they’ve envisioned.

Inflation

Your clients feel it every single day, but most don’t factor it into their retirement planning. Yet, as everyday expenses like groceries, housing, and health care continue to rise, retirees can struggle to maintain the lifestyle they worked so hard to build. Slowly but surely, inflation eats away at their savings.

Over a retirement that could last 20 to 30 years, that erosion—what we call purchasing power risk—can dramatically change how your clients live. Your conversations about inflation aren’t really about budgets and spreadsheets. They’re about helping clients preserve what matters most: their comfort, their choices, and their quality of life in retirement.

Retirees spend ~40% of their income on housing and health care—two of the highest-inflation categories.²

Volatility

Market ups and downs can shake your clients’ confidence and lead to snap decisions they’ll later regret. But the real danger? Volatility threatens the three pillars of a secure retirement: steady income, long-term growth, and making assets last.

The timing of market swings matters more than most people realize. When negative returns hit early in retirement—right when clients start making withdrawals—it creates what’s called sequence of returns risk. This double hit can drain savings much faster than expected, even if markets eventually recover.

A market downturn in the first 5 years of retirement can increase the probability of running out of money by more than 60%.³

Emotion

Let’s talk about the risk nobody puts on a pie chart: emotion. Fear and regret can undermine retirement plans just as effectively as a market crash or inflation spike.

Here’s what’s interesting—most mistakes don’t happen during the accumulation years. They happen when clients start withdrawing money. That’s because retirement is deeply emotional, not just financial. Your clients are navigating identity shifts, new daily routines, and health concerns that all shape their decision-making.

The real challenge? Emotions amplify everything else. Worries about outliving their money, rising costs, or market volatility can push clients toward financial choices that work against their long-term goals.

Loss aversion causes investors to feel losses 2x more intensely than gains—leading to panic selling.⁴

The reality is, even clients who’ve done everything right may still feel uncertain about tackling these four risks. That’s where you come in. But you don’t have to navigate these conversations alone. Delaware Life is here to help you transform that uncertainty into clarity and confidence. We provide the insights, tools, and solutions you need to guide your clients through both the emotional and practical sides of retirement planning.

Ready to start the conversation with your clients? Visit our L.I.V.E. website to explore resources and tools designed to help you navigate these discussions with confidence.