The American College's RICP curriculum includes a list of 27 risks that retirees face. Twenty-seven!

I discuss this list regularly with clients to help them understand how important this phase of their planning is, and also to pinpoint a few risks that are incredibly important but often overlooked. Beyond basics like market risk and interest rate risk, here are the seven that you may find valuable:

1. Longevity risk 

Medical advances are leading to longer lifespans. This is probably no surprise to you, but I would like you to consider a new twist on this growing challenge. When retirees live longer lives, not only do they run a greater risk of depleting their assets, they can lose perspective about time itself. This can have a significant impact in the realm of behavioral economics. Specifically, the decisions they make early in retirement may not have immediate consequences. A bad choice in the first year of retirement may not show its effects in year two. But over many years, the outcomes of their decisions compound, either positively or negatively.