Markets at highs, clients entering drawdown: the question advisers should be asking

30 June 2026

Market timing is not a retirement planning strategy. Nobody knows with certainty whether markets will rise, fall or move sideways over the next few years. Retirement planning is not about predicting the next market move. It is about asking whether the client’s plan can cope if the next market move is down. That matters when clients are approaching or entering retirement after a strong period for risk assets.

Accumulation and retirement are different

In long-term accumulation, a client can usually live with volatility. They are still contributing. Market weakness may allow future contributions to buy assets at lower prices. Time is on their side. That changes as retirement approaches. A client five years away from retirement may have a target pot in mind. A poor return sequence in that window can make it harder to reach the target, or increase the size of any shortfall. Once the client is in drawdown, the same market weakness can be more damaging because withdrawals are being taken at the same time. That is why the starting point matters more than many clients realise. Retiring after a strong market period is not automatically a problem. It simply means the next few years may carry more weight in the overall plan.

Planning for a wider range of market outcomes

The issue is not whether markets are too high. The market level is simply the starting point. The more useful question is whether the client’s plan is too dependent on markets continuing to rise from here. 
If the plan only works comfortably when markets behave well in the years around retirement, it may not be as robust as it first appears.

A better test is to ask: across how wide a range of market outcomes can this plan still succeed?

Can it still work if markets rise slowly?

Can it still work if they move sideways?

How much of a fall can the plan absorb before the client risks falling short?

That is where a structured product allocation can help. Used alongside the client’s existing investment portfolio, it can give the wider portfolio a different return profile, with the potential to produce positive outcomes in market conditions where a traditional portfolio may struggle. The value is not in predicting what markets will do next. It is in reducing reliance on favourable market outcomes.

For clients approaching retirement, that may mean improving the probability of reaching a target pot. For clients already in drawdown, it may mean reducing the need to draw from the client’s existing investment portfolio if markets are weak. The aim is simple: to increase the range of market environments in which the client’s plan stays on track.

The planning use case

For a client approaching retirement, a structured allocation can broaden the range of market conditions in which the wider portfolio can produce positive returns.

For a client in drawdown, structured deposits can be used to support income needs in the early retirement window. With 100% capital protection at maturity from the deposit taker and FSCS protection up to applicable limits, subject to eligibility, they can help reduce the need to draw from the client’s existing investment portfolio during weak markets.

A defensive structured product allocation can then sit alongside the client’s existing investment portfolio through the rest of the early retirement window, helping to reduce dependency on rising markets in the years where it matters most.

The existing investment portfolio remains the long-term growth engine. The structured allocation helps it keep doing its job, even if markets are not cooperating in the early years.

Walker Crips track record

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.

Those plans have matured across a wide variety of market environments. That is not a guarantee. It is not a forecast. Past performance is not a guide to future returns. But it is a useful reference point when considering how well-governed structured products have behaved in practice.

The question for advisers

The useful question is not whether markets will fall.

It is this:

If markets are flat or down over the next few years, is this client’s plan still well supported?

If the answer is no, the portfolio may need more than a conventional investment portfolio and cash buffer.

Structured products are not suitable for every client. But for the right client, they can broaden the range of market conditions in which the portfolio can produce growth, narrow the range of likely outcomes, and reduce dependency on rising markets at the part of the journey where it matters most.

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 [email protected].

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).