Income Lab, a retirement income management software firm, has released a tool to help advisors illustrate to clients the resiliency of their retirement plans against the worst financial disasters in history.

The Retirement Stress Test shows clients how a crisis will impact a person’s day-to-day life and what spending adjustments they will have to make to guarantee the life of the retirement plan, according to Justin Fitzpatrick, CIO at Golden, Colo.-based Income Lab.

It targets clients nearing or entering retirement who are nervous about the durability of their retirement plan, he said.

“What we’re going for here is helping advisors instill confidence in a financial plan and that hasn’t been typically what stress tests do,” Fitzpatrick said. “They typically scare people.”

Advisors have the choice of 15 scenarios that mimic the conditions of the biggest financial crises in history, including the Great Depression, the stagflation of the 1970s, the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000 and the global financial crisis of 2007 and 2008.

“The Retirement Stress test was really all about letting advisors and clients understand what adjustments look like in tough times,” Fitzpatrick said.

The firm is working on enhancements to provide scenarios and timeframes the advisor can create themselves, according to Fitzpatrick.

Another enhancement will be the ability for an advisor to compare different investment strategies to see how they handle stressful events, he said.

“In the past, retirement stress testing primarily focused on how things get worse when portfolios take a hit, causing significant anxiety in clients,” Johnny Poulsen, CEO of Income Lab, said in a statement. “This new approach to realistic stress testing builds confidence by showing how adjustments—usually minor and temporary ones—can get retirees through the rough patches without major changes in their lifestyle.”

The Retirement Stress Test tool is available as part of the firm’s retirement income management software. The cost ranges from $125 per person per month for firms with 10 or more advisors/paraplanners involved in planning with Income Lab to $143 per person per month for only one who works with the Income Lab. Those with two to nine pay $134 per person per month, according to the firm.