Do you know what kind of investor you are? The answer to this very simple question can make things much easier for you when the time comes to pick an investment vehicle.

It's useful to know your investor profile. In fact, each one corresponds to specific investment objectives, a pre-determined risk tolerance and recommendations for your portfolio's asset mix, which is to say, investment vehicles that are the best suited to each investment personality.

Secure or Speculative?

For example, if your investor profile is Secure, you are likely to want to minimize volatility and seek an acceptable return. Since your tolerance to risk is very low, you choose investments that are the least likely to be affected by market fluctuations, such as fixed-interest securities. If your profile is Speculative, you seek to maximize your return in the long term and have a very high tolerance for risk; your preference is equity funds, and you are not overly perturbed by market fluctuations. These two examples illustrate the significance of this little exercise.

Take time to identify your needs

Simply taking a few minutes to get to know ourselves better as investors is an important step. Someone single, who has just finished school and is starting a career won't share the same concerns as someone thinking of retiring in ten years. Our needs change according to the stage we reach in our lives. Also, two people of the same age with the same education may have a different tolerance for risk, which influences their investment approach.

A Helpful Tool

There are several ways to determine the different investment types. We have developed a booklet to help you. First, you determine your life stage according to one of these descriptions: beginning of your working life, career and family, mid-life. Then, answer a short questionnaire to quickly identify your investor profile: Secure, Moderate, Balanced, Growth or Speculative.
 

Determine Your Investor Profile
 8 pages - 241 kb