Many seniors living off their portfolio give themselves raises every year to keep up with rising expenses. But if you can live without the increase for a few years, try to, especially if your portfolio has lost a significant amount of money. “Not taking any cost-of-living adjustments on withdrawals for a 5 year period would better enable a conservative portfolio to last throughout retirement,” says Ken Hevert, vice president of retirement income product management for Fidelity Investments.