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Summary
Helping advisers support clients as they turn a lifetime of saving into a retirement income they feel confident using.
New research and practical guidance from retirement coach Dan Haylett explores why retirement spending is often more of a behavioural challenge than a financial one, and what advisers can do to help.
Author
of people are more afraid of running out of money than running out of life.*
of retirees report feeling anxious about money despite having sufficient assets.*
of retirees are likely to die with more money than they had at retirement.*
have ever discussed their fear of running out of money with their adviser.*
* Source: The Skill of Spending in Retirement, Dan Haylett (2026)
The challenge starts with understanding the human behaviours that shape retirement decisions. From there, advisers can use more structure conversations, practical planning tools and appropriate income solutions to help clients spend with greater confidence.
The human challenge
Retirement planning has changed. For decades, advisers focused on helping clients save and grow their wealth. Today, many clients face a different challenge: having the confidence to spend it.
Many clients carry five key fears into retirement:
- Outliving savings - longevity risk
- Regret - no risk in the maths
- A failing standard of living - inflation risk
- Dependence & indignity - health risk
- Losing money - Market & sequence risk
For many clients, these fears can become more powerful than the financial reality, and the most powerful of these is often the fear of running out of money. Fear influences decisions. And over time, those decisions can shape the retirement experience itself.
What retirement spending can really look like
Traditional retirement plans often assume spending stays broadly consistent and stable throughout retirement. In reality, clients’ needs, priorities and confidence often change over time.
A useful way to think about this is through three broad phases:
Go-Go years – exploring
Often the early years of retirement, when clients may have more energy, better health and a desire to enjoy new experiences.
Go-Slow years – nesting
Spending may naturally reduce as routines, priorities and lifestyle needs change.
No-Go years – reflecting
Activity may become more limited as health and mobility play a greater role, although every client’s experience will be different.
The toolkit
No single solution can do every job. The most effective retirement income strategies combine different tools to address both financial and behavioural needs.
| Guaranteed income | Flexible drawdown | Smoothed return solutions |
|---|---|---|
| Annuities (lifetime and fixed-term), defined-benefit pensions, the State Pension. Its job is to underwrite the floor and remove the fear of outliving income. | The growth-oriented, fully accessible part of the plan. Its job is to fund the variable shape of a real retirement and to capture long-term growth. | Approaches that participate in market returns while dampening the client's experience of volatility. Their job is behavioural: to keep the client invested and spending through the wobbles. |
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