Template:Self-assessment questionnaires

Usage: This template describes self-assessment questionnaires which are used to help investors define an initial asset allocation. The template places the following text into the page:

Various advisory services offer self-assessment questionnaires to help determine your risk tolerance and define an initial asset allocation.

Vanguard, for example, offers the following tools:
 * An Investor Questionnaire. By answering a few questions, you can quickly determine an asset allocation. This tool does not recommend any funds.
 * The second Vanguard offering is the Get A Recommendation tool and is typical of the genre; it asks six questions and suggests a funds portfolio resembling one of the LifeStrategy funds.

Such tools are useful with caveats. Their real purpose may be to protect the firm by putting the client on record as accepting a certain level of risk.

The usefulness of the questionnaire has recently come into question, as it does not address three factors that have the greatest impact on a person’s attitude toward risk:
 * 1) One’s hereditary penchant to take on financial risks;
 * 2) One’s friends and acquaintances and their influence on framing opinions;
 * 3) One’s life experiences, especially in the formative years.

However, this kind of tool is a worthwhile exercise because it at least asks a question that is different from saying "What percentage of stocks do you think you are comfortable with?"

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