Making retirement planning personal: A new 'personality assessment' strategy for advisors

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A new retirement income research series argues for the importance of focusing on each consumer – and their individual preferences – in retirement planning rather than simply emphasizing the accumulation of assets.

The three-part Retirement Income Series was commissioned by the Retirement Income Institute, the research and thought-leadership arm of the Alliance for Lifetime Income. The alliance is a nonprofit consumer education association that promotes the value of having protected income in retirement. The series ultimately points to a “consumer-first” retirement income approach that considers a range of options for each individual to determine what approach resonates with them – rather than defaulting to a “save and invest” approach. The series advocates for the use of RISA (Retirement Income Style Awareness), a psychology-backed, research-driven personality assessment co-founded by Alex Murguia and Wade Pfau, the authors of the series.