📉 How Much Risk Do You Really Need in Retirement?

Risk Capacity vs Risk Tolerance. Are you taking too much risk with your retirement savings… or not enough?

If you’re 5 years from retirement (or just into it), you’ve probably heard two opposite pieces of advice:

“Play it safe. Move everything to cash or bonds.”
“If you don’t stay aggressive, you’ll run out of money.”

Both can be wrong.

In this episode of The Retirement Income Lab with Patrick Huey, CFP®, we put retirement risk under the microscope and answer a better question:

“How much risk do you actually need to reach your goals — and how much risk will just keep you up at night?”

You’ll learn:

• The 3 types of risk every retiree should understand:
– Risk preference (how much risk you feel comfortable taking)
– Risk capacity (how much risk you can actually afford based on your finances)
– Portfolio risk (how much risk your investments are really taking)

• Why “playing it safe” by moving everything to cash and short‑term bonds can quietly starve your plan over 20–30 years

• Why staying too aggressive in your 60s can blow up a good retirement plan in a bad market

• A real‑world case study (David & Karen, age 63, $1.8M saved) showing:
– How their risk tolerance, risk capacity, and actual portfolio risk don’t match
– How an 85% stock portfolio can be more aggressive than they realize
– What a better‑aligned mix might look like (so they can still grow AND sleep at night)

• Practical questions to ask yourself:
– How did you react in past market drops (2008, 2018, 2020)?
– What would you do if your portfolio fell 20% next year?
– How flexible is your spending in a bad year?
– How important is leaving money to kids, grandkids, or charity?

If you’re a high‑saving professional heading into retirement, this episode will help you align the risk you feel, the risk you can afford, and the risk you’re actually taking — instead of guessing.

👨‍💼 About The Retirement Income Lab
I’m Patrick Huey, CFP®, CAP®, MBA and owner of Victory Independent Planning. I work with high‑saving professionals nationwide who are within about 5 years of retirement or recently retired, helping them turn portfolios into paychecks they can actually live on.

🔎 Want to find out if your risk level is really aligned with your retirement plan?
Schedule a Retirement Income Lab Assessment:
https://victoryindependentplanning.com/contact

In your Assessment, we’ll help you:
• Clarify your retirement goals and spending needs
• Measure your risk preference AND your true risk capacity
• Analyze the real risk in your current portfolio
• Test different investment mixes to see how they affect your income — and your ability to sleep at night

⏱ Timestamps
00:00 – Two bad pieces of advice about risk in retirement
01:20 – The real question: how much risk do you actually need?
02:10 – Risk preference vs risk capacity vs portfolio risk
04:00 – Case study: David & Karen, age 63, $1.8M saved
06:15 – Where their risk is out of alignment
07:30 – How much return they really need to fund their plan
09:00 – A more balanced, aligned risk level
10:10 – Questions to find YOUR “sleep‑at‑night” risk level
13:30 – Why aligned risk beats “more” or “less” risk
15:00 – How to get your own Retirement Income Lab Assessment

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