Risk Tolerance (2024)

The amount of loss an investor is prepared to handle while making an investment decision

What is Risk Tolerance?

Risk tolerance refers to the amount of loss an investor is prepared to handle while making an investment decision. Several factors determine the level of risk an investor can afford to take.

Risk Tolerance (1)

Knowing the risk tolerance level helps investors plan their entire portfolio and will drive how they invest. For example, if an individual’s risk tolerance is low, investments will be made conservatively and will include more low-risk investments and less high-risk investments.

Summary

  • Risk tolerance refers to the amount of loss an investor is prepared to handle while making an investment decision.
  • Investors are usually classified into three main categories based on how much risk they can tolerate. They include aggressive, moderate, and conservative.
  • Knowing the risk tolerance level helps investors plan their entire portfolio and will drive how they invest.

Factors that Influence Risk Tolerance

1. Timeline

Each investor will adopt a different time horizon based on their investment plans. Generally, more risk can be taken if there is more time. An individual who needs a certain sum of money at the end of fifteen years can take more risk than an individual who needs the same amount by the end of five years. It is due to the fact that the market has shown an upward trend over the years. However, there are constant lows in the short term.

2. Goals

Financial goals differ from individual to individual. To accumulate the highest amount of money possible is not the sole purpose of financial planning for many. The amount required to achieve certain goals is calculated, and an investment strategy to deliver such returns is usually pursued. Therefore, each individual will take on a different risk tolerance based on goals.

3. Age

Usually, young individuals should be able to take more risks than older individuals. Young individuals have the capability to make more money working and have more time on their hands to handle market fluctuations.

4. Portfolio size

The larger the portfolio, the more tolerant to risk. An investor with a $50 million portfolio will be able to take more risk than an investor with a $5 million portfolio. If value drop, the percentage loss is much less in a larger portfolio when compared to a smaller portfolio.

5. Investor comfort level

Each investor handles risk differently. Some investors are naturally more comfortable with taking risks than others. On the contrary, market volatility can be extremely stressful for some investors. Risk tolerance is, therefore, directly related to how comfortable an investor is while taking risks.

Types of Risk Tolerance

Investors are usually classified into three main categories based on how much risk they can tolerate. The categories are based on many factors, few of which have been discussed above. The three categories are:

1. Aggressive

Aggressive risk investors are well versed with the market and take huge risks. Such types of investors are used to seeing large upward and downward movements in their portfolio. Aggressive investors are known to be wealthy, experienced, and usually have a broad portfolio.

They prefer asset classes with a dynamic price movement, such as equities. Due to the amount of risk they take, they reap superior returns when the market is doing well and naturally face huge losses when the market performs poorly. However, they do not panic sell at times of crisis in the market as they are used to fluctuations on a daily basis.

2. Moderate

Moderate risk investors are relatively less risk-tolerant when compared to aggressive risk investors. They take on some risk and usually set a percentage of losses they can handle. They balance their investments between risky and safe asset classes. With the moderate approach, they earn lesser than aggressive investors when the market does well but does not suffer huge losses when the market falls.

3. Conservative

Conservative investors take the least risk in the market. They do not indulge in risky investments at all and go for the options they feel are safest. They prioritize avoiding losses above making gains. The asset classes they invest in are limited to a few, such as FD and PPF, where their capital is protected.

Risk Tolerance (2)

Ignoring Risk Tolerance

Investing without considering risk tolerance can prove to be fatal. An investor must know how to react when the value of investments falls. Many investors flee the market and sell low in the process. At the same time, a market decline can be a great time to buy. Therefore, ascertaining risk tolerance helps in making informed decisions and not make hasty, wrongful decisions.

Additional Resources

Thank you for reading CFI’s guide on Risk Tolerance. To keep advancing your career, the additional CFI resources below will be useful:

Risk Tolerance (2024)

FAQs

Risk Tolerance? ›

Risk tolerance is the degree of risk or uncertainty that is acceptable to an organization. Source(s): NISTIR 8170 under Risk Tolerance. The level of risk that the Manufacturer is willing to accept in pursuit of strategic goals and objectives.

What are the 3 factors of risk tolerance? ›

There are three different levels of risk tolerance involved:
  • Aggressive Risk Tolerance.
  • Moderate Risk Tolerance.
  • Conservative Risk Tolerance.

Why is risk tolerance? ›

Risk tolerance is the amount of market volatility and loss you're willing to accept as an investor. Determining your personal risk tolerance is perhaps the most fundamental step you can take in deciding what types of investments to make.

What does high in risk tolerance mean? ›

An aggressive investor, or one with a high risk tolerance, is willing to risk losing money to get potentially better results. A conservative investor, or one with a low risk tolerance, favors investments that maintain his or her original investment.

What are the list of risk tolerances? ›

Risk tolerance refers to the amount of loss an investor is prepared to handle while making an investment decision. Investors are usually classified into three main categories based on how much risk they can tolerate. They include aggressive, moderate, and conservative.

What is risk tolerance in simple words? ›

Risk tolerance is related to the acceptance of the outcomes of a risk should they occur, and having the right resources and controls in place to absorb or “tolerate” the given risk, expressed in qualitative and/or quantitative risk criteria.

What are the three C's of risk? ›

In essence, the 3 C's - Collaboration, Context, and Communication - are fundamental to the success of an Integrated Risk Management approach.

How do you assess risk tolerance? ›

The standard approach to determining risk tolerance is to ask investors a series of questions. This might include assessing their time horizon, available assets, and need for income, along with their willingness to sustain market volatility and comfort level staying invested through a market decline.

How do you develop risk tolerance? ›

6 Ways to Increase Your Risk Tolerance
  1. Emergency Fund and Short-Term Savings.
  2. Income Diversification.
  3. Understand Investment History, Theory, and Expected Performance.
  4. Understand All the Risks You Face.
  5. Develop Entrepreneurial Skills.
  6. A Change in Attitude.
Jun 9, 2016

What does risk tolerance depend on? ›

Risk tolerance determines the degree of risk investors can tolerate before deciding to exit the market. It usually depends on the investor's financial situation, type, preferences, time horizon, and purpose of investments.

What is an example of risk tolerance level? ›

Definition and Example of Risk Tolerance

In simple terms, it is how much you are willing to be unsure about (and how much money you're willing to lose), in the face of possible gains. For example, if you're unwilling to lose much, or any, of your capital, you'd have a very low tolerance for risk.

What level of risk is tolerable? ›

RL is the acceptable risk level and is usually set between 1×10−4 and 1×10−6, meaning 1 in 10000 to 1 in a million increased risk is considered acceptable.

What is risk tolerance in the workplace? ›

Risk tolerance is defined as the willingness of a worker or a group to take safety risks. This article looks at the factors that influence how much risk is acceptable to individuals or groups.

What is an example of risk tolerance in real life? ›

Risk Tolerance Defined

With any type of investment, there is always risk, but how much risk one is able to withstand is their risk tolerance. For example, if you have a low risk tolerance, you may sell your stocks the very first time they start to dip.

What are the 3 P's of risk management? ›

Recall that these three steps include identifying the risk, assessing the risk, and finally mitigating the risk. Imagine the 3P model in parallel to those three steps by perceiving (identifying the risk), processing (assessing the risk), and performing (mitigating the risk).

What are the 4 risk categories? ›

These risk categories can each be broken down on each level into financial risks, strategic risks, performance risks, and external risks.

What are the 3 R's of risk management? ›

In the real world though, it's unlikely that an end production facility would not have any safeguards to mitigate a supply chain disruption, otherwise known as the “3 Rs” of supply chain risk management: Reserves, Redundancy, and Resilience.

What is the difference between risk tolerance and risk capacity? ›

"Risk tolerance is a state of mind and can fluctuate wildly in response to the market," says Susan Hirshman, director of wealth management at Schwab Wealth Advisory, Inc. "Risk capacity, on the other hand, is fixed: Your goals have an end date, and you either have time to bounce back from losses or you don't."

What is a risk tolerance questionnaire? ›

A risk tolerance questionnaire consists of a set of survey questions that help an individual understand the nature of investment style and what kind of investor to better reflect their situation and any risk associated with the investments.

What are the four determinants of risk tolerance? ›

What are the Factors that Influence Risk Tolerance?
  • Age. One of the primary determinants of an individual's risk tolerance is their age. ...
  • Financial standing. Perhaps the most critical of risk tolerance factors is an investor's financial standing. ...
  • Disposable income. ...
  • Time horizon.

Can you change your risk tolerance? ›

For most people, risk tolerance doesn't change—at least not until retirement nears. However, certain factors can make some individuals become less or more tolerant to investment volatility. Some experienced investors who have lived through multiple market cycles can find their risk tolerance changing.

What are three examples of tolerance? ›

Tolerance Examples
  • Accepting People's Traditions and Religions. ...
  • Accepting LGBTQI+ People. ...
  • Accepting People's Political Stances. ...
  • Yimbyism. ...
  • Inclusion of sub-cultural groups. ...
  • Tolerating dress codes. ...
  • Integrated schools. ...
  • Accepting people you don't get along with in the workplace.
Oct 17, 2022

What are the three 3 categories of risk? ›

Types of Risks

Widely, risks can be classified into three types: Business Risk, Non-Business Risk, and Financial Risk.

What are the 3 components of risk and explain each? ›

Risk = Threat + Consequence + Vulnerability

Risk in this formula can be broken down to consider the likelihood of threat occurrence, the effectiveness of your existing security program, and the consequences of an unwanted criminal or terrorist event occurring.

What is risk factors and give 3 examples? ›

Something that increases the chance of developing a disease. Some examples of risk factors for cancer are age, a family history of certain cancers, use of tobacco products, being exposed to radiation or certain chemicals, infection with certain viruses or bacteria, and certain genetic changes.

What are the 4 main risk factors? ›

In general, risk factors can be categorised into the following groups:
  • Behavioural.
  • Physiological.
  • Demographic.
  • Environmental.
  • Genetic.

What are the 4 main categories of risk? ›

The main four types of risk are:
  • strategic risk - eg a competitor coming on to the market.
  • compliance and regulatory risk - eg introduction of new rules or legislation.
  • financial risk - eg interest rate rise on your business loan or a non-paying customer.
  • operational risk - eg the breakdown or theft of key equipment.

What are the five 5 categories of risk? ›

There are five categories of operational risk: people risk, process risk, systems risk, external events risk, and legal and compliance risk.

What are three 3 principles of risk management? ›

The 5 basic principles of risk management are to: Avoid risk - Identify appropriate strategies that can be used to avoid the risk whenever possible, if a risk cannot be eliminated then it must be managed Identify risk - Assess the risk, identify the nature of the risk and who is involved Analyse risk - By examining how ...

What are the two 2 main types of risk? ›

The two major types of risk are systematic risk and unsystematic risk. Systematic risk impacts everything. It is the general, broad risk assumed when investing. Unsystematic risk is more specific to a company, industry, or sector.

What are the 5 principles of risk management? ›

5 basic principles of risk management
  • #1: Risk identification. ...
  • #2: Risk analysis. ...
  • #3: Risk control. ...
  • #4: Risk financing. ...
  • #5: Claims management. ...
  • Bringing risk management principles to life.
Mar 21, 2022

What are the key elements of risk? ›

All forms of risk, whether they are classified as speculative or hazard risks, comprise common elements. This notion is illustrated in Figure 2, which highlights the following four basic components of risk: (1) context, (2) action, (3) conditions, and (4) consequences.

What are the five 5 elements of risk management? ›

There are several ways to categorize an effective risk management process's constituent elements, but at the very least it should incorporate the following risk management components.
  1. Risk Identification. ...
  2. Risk Analysis. ...
  3. Response Planning. ...
  4. Risk Mitigation. ...
  5. Risk Monitoring.
Mar 15, 2021

What are common types of risks? ›

13 Common Types of Project Risks
  • Cost Risk.
  • Schedule Risk.
  • Performance Risk.
  • Operational Risk.
  • Technology Risk.
  • Communication Risk.
  • Scope Creep Risk.
  • Skills Resource Risk.
6 days ago

What are the most common risk factors? ›

A risk factor is a variable that could increase your risk for a disease or infection. Physical activity, stress, and nutrition could all potentially play a role in your risk for developing certain diseases.

How do you identify risk factors? ›

8 ways to identify risk
  1. Brainstorming. Brainstorming is the act of gathering team members to think about and discuss a subject and to form solutions to any identified problems. ...
  2. Stakeholder interviews. ...
  3. NGT technique. ...
  4. Affinity diagram. ...
  5. Requirements review. ...
  6. Project plans. ...
  7. Root cause analysis. ...
  8. SWOT analysis.
Jun 24, 2022

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