But "retirement spending is not pass-fail," said certified financial planner Justin Fitzpatrick, co-founder of Income Lab, a retirement planning software company. Your retirement spending isn't static, meaning there's room for adjustments over time, depending on your needs and goals, he said, speaking at the Financial Planning Association's annual conference Wednesday. However, Fitzpatrick sees retirement expenses as "a series of small liabilities," and many of these costs can be flexible. "These are not necessarily the things you would prefer ahead of time, but they're different from financial ruin," Fitzpatrick said. Total financial ruin is "almost impossible," because individual liabilities can be small and spending generally happens slowly enough to make "minor and temporary adjustments" over time, he said.

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Persons: Martin Barraud, Justin Fitzpatrick, It's, Fitzpatrick Organizations: Caiaimage, Getty, Cerulli Associates