Financial-planning expert Michael Kitces and American College professor Wade Pfau published a paper last year on the appropriate default equity glide path for retiree portfolios. They found that rising stock allocations during retirement have the potential to actually reduce the probability of failure and the magnitude of failure in a portfolio. Morningstar recently spoke with Kitces about his and Pfau's findings. 

Question: Michael, you co-authored a paper with professor Wade Pfau where you looked at what equity allocations should look like in retirement. Your research came up with a somewhat counterintuitive finding, where you actually suggested that equities should trend up as someone goes further in retirement. Let's talk about your general findings and why you think that this is something retirees should consider.

Michael Kitces: Certainly the reactions to some of the research that we've done have been interesting at the suggestion that maybe equities should actually glide upward and you would get a little bit more aggressive through retirement.