You've Been Asked How Much Risk You Can Handle. Has Anyone Ever Asked Who You Actually Are as a Retiree?
The RISA Profile is a research-backed retirement personality assessment that identifies how you think about retirement income.
What Is the RISA Profile?
Watch the 2-minute explainer
Your Advisor Has Been Using the Wrong Test
Here's what happens at most advisory firms: You sit down, they hand you a risk tolerance questionnaire, and they build your portfolio around the score. That questionnaire was designed for people still accumulating wealth - not for retirement income.
The research backs this up. Dr. Wade Pfau and Dr. Alex Murguia found that portfolio loss aversion (what every risk questionnaire measures) is not statistically related to the two things retirees actually worry about most: longevity and liquidity.
"Using a risk tolerance questionnaire to establish a retirement income strategy is akin to your doctor checking your pulse to measure your cholesterol."- Dr. Wade Pfau & Dr. Alex Murguia
A Retirement Personality Assessment
Which One Fits You?
Your answers on the two RISA dimensions map you to one of four distinct retirement income strategies. Each one is valid. The question is which one matches who you are.
Here's the uncomfortable math: if your advisor only uses a risk tolerance questionnaire, they can only steer you toward Total Return, because that's the only strategy an asset allocation number can produce. That means roughly two-thirds of retirees are being matched to a strategy that doesn't fit their personality.
We Don't Start With Products. We Start With You.
A retirement plan that doesn't match your personality is a plan you won't stick with. And a plan you abandon in year three of a 30-year retirement is worse than no plan at all.
Take the RISA Assessment
Free, takes about 15 minutes. You'll get a 30+ page personalized report that maps your retirement income personality across both dimensions. No cost. No obligation.
Meet With Rich to Interpret Results
The report tells you who you are. The conversation tells you what to do about it. Rich walks you through your results and shows how they connect to your actual financial situation.
Get a Plan Built Around You
We don't plug you into a model. We build a coordinated retirement plan that matches your income style, your risk personality, and your life. Every piece fits because it started with who you are.
"Most advisors ask 'How much risk can you handle?' I'd rather know who you are - what keeps you up at night, what gets you excited about retirement, and what kind of plan actually helps you sleep."- Rich Ison, Fiduciary Advisor
A 30+ Page Report That Finally Makes Retirement Personal
Your RISA Matrix
Where you fall on both dimensions: Safety-First vs. Probability-Based, and Commitment vs. Optionality. This is the foundation of your strategy.
Matched Strategy
Which of the four retirement income approaches fits your personality. Not what's "best" in general, but what's best for you.
The Four Ls
How much you worry about Longevity (outliving money), Lifestyle (enjoying retirement), Liquidity (handling surprises), and Legacy (leaving something behind).
Implementation Style
Whether you're a Delegator, Collaborator, Validator, or Self-Directed. This determines how we work together going forward.
Secondary Factors
Your preferences on front-loading vs. back-loading spending, technical vs. true liquidity, and accumulation vs. distribution mindset.
Validated Results
Validated on 2,863 individuals. 94% said the results accurately captured their retirement income style. This isn't a marketing quiz. It's a research instrument.
15 minutes. No cost. No obligation. Your results are private.
The Researchers Behind the Assessment
The RISA Profile was created by Dr. Wade Pfau, PhD, CFA, RICP and Dr. Alex Murguia, PhD. Pfau is a Princeton-trained economist, a professor at The American College of Financial Services, and one of the most published and cited retirement income researchers in the world. Murguia is a clinical psychologist specializing in financial behavior.
Their central insight is that retirement planning requires a completely different framework than the one most advisors were trained on. The investment theory that dominates the industry, Modern Portfolio Theory, was designed for institutional investors and people still accumulating wealth. Even its creator, Harry Markowitz, acknowledged he never really thought about investing for households in retirement.
Pfau and Murguia built RISA to fill that gap: a tool that starts with the person, not the portfolio. It's endorsed by Kitces.com, Morningstar, and BlackRock, and the retirement planning community's most respected voices. And it's backed by a peer-reviewed validation study, not a marketing team.
What People Ask About RISA
Find Out Who You Are as a Retiree
The RISA Profile takes about 15 minutes. You'll receive a 30+ page personalized report that reveals your retirement income personality - and shows exactly which strategy matches who you are.
No cost. No obligation. Your results are private and shared only with you.
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