There are three basic portfolio risks that can prevent investors from achieving their goals, retirement and otherwise, according to Manning & Napier, including capital risk, reinvestment rate risk and inflation risk.

Capital risk needs to be actively managed based on the current market and economic environment, according to Manning & Napier.  The company pointed out that since many investors believe that equities outperform fixed income securities over the long run they may invest the majority of their portfolios in equity securities.

And even though long-term average annualized returns have been between 9 percent and 10 percent since 1926, there is a high chance that stocks may fail to earn reasonable returns over periods of time as long as 10 years, Manning & Napier found. For example, the S&P 500 failed to provide a 5 percent annualized return in about 17 percent of rolling five-year periods and a 10 percent annualized return in about 49 percent of rolling 10-year periods from 1926 to 2013.