The Seven Most Prevalent Risks

There are more risks to a retirement plan than any single page can cover. These are the seven that show up most often — and most destructively — in the plans we review.

  1. Sequence of Return Risk — The order your returns arrive in matters more than the average return itself.

  2. Longevity Risk — Planning to your life expectancy means a 50% chance of outliving your money.

  3. Inflation Risk — Modeled with differentiated escalation by expense category, not a flat 3%.

  4. Tax Risk — The tax code you retire under isn't the one you're planning against today.

  5. Policy/Entitlement Risk — Social Security and Medicare funding timelines as a planning input, not background noise.

  6. Jurisdictional Optionality — Where you're allowed to retire, and what it costs to change your mind.

  7. Sovereign/Macro Structural Risk — Exposure to a single currency, country, and fiscal regime.

Each risk is modeled separately and explicitly using the actual return your plan needs, not the return you're hoping for.

See How the Process Works