Industry convention has you taking a “risk evaluation survey”, either explicitly or in the course conversation, which leads to a label - what kind of investor you are - which tells your advisor what kind of portfolio to select.   Certainly, the survey is an important exercise but the connection between it and what your investment portfolio needs to be is coincidental at best.

The real question is how your portfolio should be constructed to create the life you want years down the road.  At issue is the expected returns of various asset classes relative to what you are trying to achieve. And, what you currently own. Building the portfolio appropriate for you - asset allocation and security selection- is driven by these considerations.

You no doubt have an investment portfolio or have relatively unique assets. Examples of those could be a family business, a portfolio of long held stocks, stocks deemed “too large” for a properly diversified portfolio, or…there are many examples. Each will have risk characteristics and attributes both near term and longer term. They also have their own expected returns.  Accommodating these as well as liquidity issues or indeed, personal preferences, will also drive your portfolio construction process. We are very comfortable building custom and prudent investment portfolios based on your life.  In fact, we do that with each of our clients.