20 August 2026
The better advice firms rarely change their process because something is fashionable. They change it when the client problem has changed. That is what is happening in retirement planning.
A growing proportion of advice firms have more clients approaching or entering drawdown. That changes the investment conversation. A portfolio designed for accumulation is not automatically the right answer when the client is five years from retirement, or already drawing income.
Stronger retirement propositions are not abandoning the client’s existing investment portfolio. They are not rebuilding the whole investment process. They are becoming clearer about what the existing investment portfolio can and cannot do.
Accumulation is mainly about building wealth over time. The final years before retirement are about reaching a target without taking unnecessary timing risk. Decumulation is about sustaining withdrawals, managing volatility, preserving flexibility and reducing the risk that poor returns arrive at the wrong time. Those are different jobs.
A client 20 years from retirement can usually ride out volatility with time and discipline. A client two or three years away from needing the money has less room for error. A client taking regular withdrawals has less room again.
Stronger retirement propositions recognise that retirement portfolios need a different shape from accumulation portfolios.
A well-built investment portfolio remains valuable. It provides asset allocation, diversification, governance, rebalancing and a scalable process. It is still a mark-to-market portfolio. It depends largely on rising markets to produce positive returns over time. It does not produce defined outcomes simply because the client has a retirement target. It does not, on its own, narrow the range of possible outcomes for a client who is already drawing income.
That is not a criticism. It is the nature of the tool. The better question is what should sit alongside it.
A structured product allocation can be designed to support the years immediately before and after retirement.
Before retirement, the aim may be to broaden the range of market conditions in which the wider portfolio can produce positive returns, helping to narrow the range of likely outcomes around the target.
In drawdown, the aim may be to reduce dependency on the existing investment portfolio during the early retirement window.
Structured deposits can help support planned income needs, with 100% capital protection at maturity from the deposit taker and FSCS protection up to applicable limits, subject to eligibility..
Defensive autocalls and step-down plans can produce positive returns when the underlying index is flat or moderately lower at an observation date, subject to plan terms.
That is a different toolkit from the client’s existing investment portfolio. Used properly, it does a different job.
Clients do not always engage with the mechanics of portfolio construction, but they do understand the purpose of each part of their money.
This part is there to fund income now.
This part is designed to protect income over the next few years.
This part aims to provide growth across a wider range of market conditions.
This part remains invested for long-term growth.
That is a clearer and more reassuring conversation than asking the client to rely on one portfolio to do everything at once.
It helps the client understand where income is expected to come from, why the long-term portfolio can remain invested, and how the plan is designed to cope if markets are difficult.
The firms taking this seriously are not treating structured products as occasional tactical ideas.
They are building governance around them.
Agreed product criteria. Approved counterparties. Diversification limits. Suitability frameworks. Centralised review. Client communication standards. A clear role inside the retirement proposition.
That is what separates proper adoption from product-led usage.
It also makes the conversation more purposeful. The structured allocation is not there because a particular product happens to look attractive. It is there because the retirement framework has identified a specific job that needs doing.
Walker Crips’ structured product track record across plans launched between 16 December 2009 and 31 March 2026 shows 1,781 plans launched, a 99.51% positive return rate, a 7.88% average annualised return and zero capital losses.
That does not remove the need for suitability, due diligence or client understanding. It does provide a useful reference point for how well-governed structured products have behaved across a range of market environments.
The firms leading this conversation are not doing something radical. They are doing something disciplined.
They are accepting that clients approaching retirement and clients in drawdown face different risks from long-term accumulation clients.
The existing investment portfolio still matters. For these clients, it may not be enough on its own.
A stronger retirement proposition does not ask one portfolio to do every job. It gives each part of the portfolio a clear purpose.
If you'd like to discuss how structured products could complement your current investment and retirement proposition, I'd welcome the conversation. Please get in touch on 020 3100 8157 or joe.simpson@wcgplc.co.uk.
Joe Simpson
Director, Investment Management
Structured products are capital-at-risk investments and are not suitable for every client. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. This article is for professional advisers only and does not constitute advice.
The value of any investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. Walker Crips Investment Management Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 226344).
Important Note
No news or research content is a recommendation to deal. It is important to remember that the value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up, so you could get back less than you invest. If you have any doubts about the suitability of any investment for your circumstances, you should contact your financial advisor.
The value of investments can fall as well as rise. Investors may get back less than invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
The value of investments can fall as well as rise. Investors may get back less than invested.
