Don't forget retirement risks.

The shortcomings of many financial plans today is that they are set up to last to a retiree's life expectancy, usually 85 years, thus impoverishing some retirees by design, said Brian Perlman, a member of market research firm Matthew Greenwald & Associates and holder of a Ph.D. in psychology. While most planning takes into account inflation, it often doesn't address the costs of health care and long-term care, and it may overestimate annual inflation-adjusted withdrawals from assets or underestimate the results of human inclination to overspend.

The new retirement-planning paradigm will hold that both investment risk and life risk can deplete a nest egg. New Financial plans will also take into account retirees' values--their willingness to risk future poverty, for example--and their goals, such as leaving money to heirs.

Studies already have shown that income annuities reduce both investment risk and longevity risk. The new paradigm will further open doors for insurers, both in product design and insurer skills, Perlman said. For example, buyers of income annuities today expect to live on average to age 95, but new underwritten annuities could provide higher periodic payments to those not likely to live that long. The new paradigm also could spawn a need for a more "agent type of adviser" he said.