Achieving your various financial objectives necessitates diversified accounts. Each account is a battle in the effort to win the retirement war. Each account has an objective. Each objective has a specific strategy. Identify the risks associated with each strategy. Counteract the risks of each account with the strategies of the other accounts. The theater-level operation of all your accounts working in concert determine your financial status. Consider as examples:

• Objective: Immediate Income. Strategy: a stable-value cash account. However, stable value means no growth potential. The risk here is the inability to offset taxes and inflation over time.
• Objective: Long-Term Growth. Strategy: investments in ownership (i.e., stocks). However, ownership leads to short-term volatility. The risk here is the inability rely on this for short-term income.

Note how each account has its own form of risk that the other account mitigates.

If your retirement expenses are less than your guaranteed income sources, your other assets are free to achieve other objectives and those objectives may allow aggressive strategies.

If your retirement expenses are more than your guaranteed income sources, you need both income and growth from your other assets. This requires more finesse than just being more aggressive.