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Increasing longevity, stock market volatility and rising inflation are the major concerns for advisers when it comes to recommending retirement products, according to MetLife Europe.

It found 42 per cent of advisers cited rising longevity as the major concern when recommending investment strategies for clients planning for retirement.

It added 27 per cent of advisers selected inflation as the biggest threat, while 18 per cent pointed to stock market volatility as the major challenge.

MetLife believes the challenge of rising longevity is driving the development of new retirement planning solutions including its own new retirement portfolio, the first personal pension to offer capital and income guarantees.

Dominic Grinstead, strategic development and marketing director of MetLife, said: "It is striking that advisers cite longevity as the biggest threat ahead of volatility and inflation despite the recent focus on the rise in the cost of living and the slump in the FTSE.

"It demonstrates that advisers are focusing on the long-term and that they believe clients should also be looking long-term. Increasing longevity means that the long-term is likely to be longer than many people expect and that existing retirement income solutions may not always be up to the task."

Alex Pegley, IFA for Hampshire-based Calculis, said: "One of the biggest issues that we have is to ensure that the money lasts. Clients have unrealistic expectations of what income their capital can generate for them, the money has to last longer because people live longer.

"Some clients think that £100,000 could give them up to £10,000 of income which is unrealistic. Inflation is high at the moment and for retired people it is higher than the general population and the reason for that is that they spend more of their income on oil, gas, petrol and food.