psychometric risk profiling questionnaire

colshandy

I need to do one of these myself to help me chose a suitable portfolio (I sound like I have swallowed an investment dictionary !!).

Does anyone know of any good online versions or could send me a copy ?

Thanks

oldvicar

I remember that a year or two ago I did one of these online, and was impressed that the results felt right for me. I'm sorry I can't remember what/where though. I think it had quite a few questions (e.g. 50 or so).

I have just done a quick google and the first result I hit was http://www.scottishlife.co.uk/scotlife/Web/Site/Adviser/Investment/Tools/AdvInvRiskProfiler.asp
This was a much simpler questionnaire than the one I remember, but what stunned me was that the results felt so wrong for me. I can just imagine that if I went to a professional advisor he could use this, easily generate a glossy tailored report, and basically try to sell me a load of overpriced rubbish which would not suit me yet be complying with professional standards :eek:

I'm sure the experienced IFA's will be along soon to say how much care they take, but despite the site warning that this is for professional advisors only (and has a tick box to protect scotlife) it is obvious how a trained monkey could mis-use a site like this to give (poor) advice.

I'm really sorry that the first reply to your question doesn't really point you to the assesment you seek, and I hope someone will come along soon with a good answer, and perhaps say why they like the test. But having looked at what a quick online search provides, I thought I should express the concerns I have that it is so easy to stumble upon something unsuitable (IMHO of course).

bigsy

The FinaMetrica system is recommended in Tim Hale's 'Smarter Investing' book, but it costs £30 to complete.

http://www.myrisktolerance.com

westy22

People are their own worst enemies - you can complete one of these tests (or any other for that matter), and then decide what your risk profile is. The problem is that we all have an easily-accessible 'over-ride' button inside us which we frequently trigger when temptation calls. How many people say to themselves ' I know this is very high risk and I shouldn't but, just this once, .....

oldvicar

bigsy wrote: »

The FinaMetrica system is recommended in Tim Hale's 'Smarter Investing' book, but it costs £30 to complete.

http://www.myrisktolerance.com

This looks very much like the one I tried a couple of years ago and was impressed by, although at the time I certainly didn't pay for it. I might have followed some sort of link found on these forums!

The manner of presentation of the results most definitely resembles the test I took.

IIRC when I did the test, because it was free, for the one or two questions where I really couldn't make up my mind between two of the choices I re-did the test and found the slight differences in results informative.

I am not likely to go off seeking investment advice ... BUT if I was to consider seeking advice or constructing my own portfolio in an organised manner, then I would seriously consider paying the fee for such a test.

dunstonh

I'm sure the experienced IFA's will be along soon to say how much care they take, but despite the site warning that this is for professional advisors only (and has a tick box to protect scotlife) it is obvious how a trained monkey could mis-use a site like this to give (poor) advice.

Many "provider" based profilers dont hit the mark from a compliance point of view. Some have improved but others lag behind.

katp1984

You can now do the Finametrica profile for free through the Guardian.;)

www. myrisktolerance. com /guardian (sorry I'm not allowed to post urls yet - so please remove the spaces for the link)

It's certainly interesting to see where your risk tolerance compared to others who have done the survey is. However, I'm not sure if it has changed my mind about my own tolerance to risk.

A question to the financial advisors - are the profiling tools you use similar?

qpop

katp1984 wrote: »

You can now do the Finametrica profile for free through the Guardian.;)

www.myrisktolerance.com/guardian (sorry I'm not allowed to post urls yet - so please remove the spaces for the link)

It's certainly interesting to see where your risk tolerance compared to others who have done the survey is. However, I'm not sure if it has changed my mind about my own tolerance to risk.

A question to the financial advisors - are the profiling tools you use similar?

Thanks for this, will be a useful link for many I'm guessing.

Though I'd like to add that academic research supports the theory that risk profile questionnaires become more accurate, the more questions are asked, but that increase in accuracy drops off a cliff above 15 questions. Above questionnaire contains 25.

dunstonh

A question to the financial advisors - are the profiling tools you use similar?

Similar. I doubt the free one will be as detailed or lead to the same outcomes as the paid for ones. Otherwise the company would lose all its income as IFAs would just use the free versions. You tend to find that most of the free versions are cut down versions of the retail version.

Meeper

I use a tool which compares not only the questions (tolerance for risk) but also assess the clients asset and liability situation and what they can afford to lose (capacity for risk) along with their goals and targets for the investment over the period.

A robust risk profiling exercise combines examination of tolerance, capacity and goals in order to promote further discussion with the client with regard to how their goals may be outside of their tolerance or capacity, and the implications of this, etc.

adifor

dunstonh wrote: »

Similar. I doubt the free one will be as detailed or lead to the same outcomes as the paid for ones. Otherwise the company would lose all its income as IFAs would just use the free versions. You tend to find that most of the free versions are cut down versions of the retail version.

The link provided gives the self same test as the paid version.