Secure, steady and safe.

Those three words once associated with retirement investing no longer hold true, as many retirees have been forced to assume more risk to make up for the deterioration in their portfolios in recent years.

What's more, experts say using one’s age to determine the optimal asset allocation mix — the golden rule of retirement investing — has become a thing of the past.

For one, ultra-low interest rates for instruments like certificate of deposits, money-market and savings accounts have been generating lackluster, if not marginal, fixed income returns for years.

“The old model has flipped flopped,” says William Fisher, a financial advisor with Summit Advisors based in the San Francisco area.

With CD rates and government bond rates in the tank, retirees are left with fewer re-investment options as those instruments mature, notes Fisher.

Wealth managers agree that retiring in today’s investment environment is about as bad as it could be — much like the long bear market of the 1960s and 1970s — with individuals living longer and purchasing power shrinking.

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