In retirement you need $7,000 monthly to sustain your lifestyle costs, of which $3,000 must come from your investments. If your investments earn a consistent an 3% annually over your lifetime, you will have the $3,000 monthly. A subsequent analysis of your portfolio indicates a 6% return is possible because the portfolio has more risk. Nice to have 6% vs 3% but the additional 3% is unnecessary and risky. Simply stated, you do not need to assume more risk to achieve your goals especially considering the downside risk. Question: Are you assuming too much investment risk?