The Big Picture continued from page 13 lieves that many retirees, particularly the clients of advisors who tend to be frugal savers by nature, could spend more than they are. If the clients aren’ t motivated by the desire to leave lots of assets in an inheritance or charitable bequests, this implies a different type of failure.

When they use the 4 % rule, retirees tend to“ have more on average than when they started,” Blanchett said.“ It suggests there are lots of missed vacations.”

Blanchett was unwavering in one regard: He thinks advisors should never tell clients that Monte Carlo has given them said 81 % of advisors use Monte Carlo software when doing retirement plans, because it allows them to model uncertainty. However, he urged attendees to embrace dynamic withdrawals because it assumes clients will make changes over a multi-decade retirement.

“ We’ re moving from 30- to 35- and 40- year retirements. If you fall short [ during ] one year, is that failure?” Blanchett asked. Over long time periods, people have a choice between hard and soft liabilities— or basic needs and wants— and in Blanchett’ s analysis, retirement spending often breaks down into 70 % needs and 30 % wants.“ The more you spend, the more it is flexible wants,” he said. People he has studied typically are willing to reduce spending 20 % to 25 % on most items. Like Finke and Kitces, Blanchett bea quantifiable success outcome, and admits he loves to“ beat up” on the model’ s success ratios. His conviction is based on several factors, not least of which is that the capital market assumptions of the last decade have strayed dramatically from actual results.

Like Finke and Kitces, Blanchett believes that many retirees, particularly the clients of advisors who tend to be frugal savers by nature, could spend more than they are.

Clients“ don’ t need to know they have a 72.4 % success” rate, he said. Personally, he thinks a success rate of 80 % is“ about right” and that clients should have all their essential expenses covered by lifetime income.“ They’ d spend more and enjoy life more.”

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APRIL 2025 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | 59