New User Video 3 of 5: Exploring Spending and Guardrail Options

Explore spending and guardrail options for better financial management in this informative video for new users.

Written by Cyarah Rogotzke

Last published at: September 4th, 2025

 

New User Video 3 of 5: Exploring Spending and Guardrail Options

Video Transcript

welcome to getting started with income

0:02

laab a video series that jump starts

0:05

great retirement income planning and

0:08

management the main dashboard of an

0:10

income lab plan shows how much a

0:13

household can spend given their

0:15

resources and goals what would lead to

0:17

an adjustment in that spending and what

0:20

those adjustments could look like all in

0:22

dollar terms this completely avoids the

Exploring Spending

0:26

unrealistic and scary success failure

0:29

framing that clients may have seen

0:31

before retirement spending isn't past

0:33

fail it's about the clear tradeoff

0:36

between spending and the chances of a

0:38

future spending

0:40

adjustment you can click on the guard

0:42

rails card to explore this tradeoff here

0:46

we see the proposed spending level as

0:48

well as upper and lower guard rails

0:51

these guard rails show how much the

0:53

portfolio balance would have to change

0:56

over the near- term for the plan to call

0:58

for an adjustment in spending

1:00

and it shows what those adjustments

1:02

would be both to the upside and the

1:05

downside the slider below the guard

1:08

rails graph provides bookends to

1:10

spending capacity for this household

1:12

within a reasonable range there's no one

1:15

right answer here clients can spend less

1:17

if that fits their needs and in exchange

1:20

they would have a bigger buffer before

1:22

any belt tightening would be needed on

1:25

the other hand perhaps the clients want

1:27

to spend more and they're comfortable

1:30

accepting a higher chance of having to

1:32

adjust from that

1:33

point this guard rails Explorer is one

1:36

place to discuss that

1:38

tradeoff but of course a plan could have

Retirement Stress Test

1:41

multiple adjustments over the years and

1:43

decades a great place to evaluate the

1:46

trade-off between spending and long-term

1:48

income experiences is the retirement

1:51

stress

1:52

test here you can test how a given plan

1:55

with all of its idiosyncrasies would

1:57

react to the returns and inflation

2:00

from some of the most difficult and

2:02

memorable periods in

2:04

history here the originally planned

2:06

income level is shown with light blue

2:09

shading the actual income that this plan

2:12

would provide including adjustments when

2:14

it encounters these returns and

2:16

inflation is shown by the dark blue line

2:20

when you Mouse over the graph you can

2:21

see how far above or below the plan the

2:25

income is at any given

2:27

point often in these stress tests

2:30

we see that a good plan can navigate

2:32

tough times with minor and temporary

2:35

adjustments and that can really provide

2:38

some perspective and comfort for

2:40

clients in order to compare how

2:43

different planning decisions could

2:45

affect income and income volatility it's

2:48

a good idea to create multiple plan

2:50

scenarios that differ only on one

2:52

dimension like initial spending and

2:54

guard rails or asset allocation you can

2:57

then use the compare mode in the stress

2:59

test to look at both plans at once for

3:02

example this plan begins with a more

3:04

aggressive income and guard rail setting

3:06

and has higher income to start out with

3:09

but in 2009 it begins to see more

3:11

volatility in income the more moderate

3:14

plan on the other hand gets through this

3:16

period without a downward

3:19

adjustment the retirement stress test

3:21

also shows you how guard rails develop

3:23

over time plans and circumstances change

3:27

so of course guard rails have to change

3:28

too

3:30

here we can see how this plan's

3:31

portfolio balance and guard rails

3:33

developed through the financial

3:35

crisis this stress test guard rail view

3:38

can be turned on and off so it can be

3:40

used when needed but not be a

3:42

distraction

3:43

otherwise together the plan dashboard

3:46

the guard rails Explorer and the

3:49

retirement stress test provide great

3:51

tools you can use to explore and discuss

3:54

spending and spending adjustments with

3:56

clients and

3:58

Prospects