Riskalyze

Building Your Investment Strategy Using Riskalyze

Riskalyze is award-winning technology that quantifies your acceptable levels of risk and reward.  Using this tool, we ensure that your portfolio defines your investment goals and expectations.

Together we can take the guesswork out of your financial future.

How much risk should I take with my investments?

We find this question is one of the most common we hear from our clients, and also one of the most important. So, how do you know if your portfolio is structured properly? There has to be something more than an advisor just telling you everything is ok. There has to be a more scientific and objective way to evaluate your portfolio. Because this is so critical to our clients’ success, we have made it a priority in our practice.

As advisors, we can do many things. We can help identify goals and prepare financial plans to accomplish those goals. We can create and maintain diversified investment portfolios. But we CAN’T change your risk profile.

What do we mean? Few people have a problem with risk when the market is rising. It’s when our portfolios are moving in the opposite direction that we become uncomfortable. So, when we talk about risk, we really mean “How much short-term volatility are you willing to accept in order to realize the long-term gains you are hoping for?” This risk/return tradeoff is unique to you and understanding your expectations is critical if we want to serve you well.

DEFINE YOUR RISK NUMBER

The first step is to answer a 5-minute questionnaire that covers topics such as portfolio size, top financial goals, and what you're willing to risk for potential gains.  Then we'll pinpoint your exact Risk Number to guide our decision making process.   

The Risk Number is a proprietary scaled index developed by Riskalyze to reflect a “risk score” for your unique Risk Fingerprint, or for a specific portfolio of investments. As you can see, it’s shaped like a speed limit sign, so a higher Risk Number means a higher level of risk and potential return.

Your unique Risk Fingerprint is a multi-dimensional variable reflecting the complexity of your specific risk tolerance. On the other hand, the Risk Number is a single-dimension variable designed to approximate the relative risk between people or portfolios. Thus, a “45” portfolio generally has more risk than a “44,” but two “45” portfolios may be quite different from each other.

The Risk Number is the first step, but the real challenge is in turning your multi-dimensional Risk Fingerprint into a comfort zone… a certain amount of downside risk you are comfortable taking over a six month timeframe, in exchange for the opportunity to achieve a certain amount of return.

One of the most important drivers of the Risk Number is the measurement of downside risk: either the downside risk in your comfort zone (the range of risk to reward that they are comfortable with) or the downside risk in a portfolio as measured by the 95% probability range.

Every time we design a portfolio for a client, Riskalyze calculates a range (e.g. –7% to +12%) that constitutes a 95% probability for that portfolio’s outcome, six months from then.  A portfolio with a range that matches the client’s comfort zone therefore has a 95% probability of staying within the client’s risk tolerance.

Click below to start the questionnaire!

ALIGN YOUR PORTFOLIO

After pinpointing your Risk Number, we'll craft a porfolio that aligns with your personal preferences and priorities, allowing you to feel comfortable with your expected outcomes.  The resulting proposed portfolio will include projections for the potential gains and losses we should expect over time.

Armed with your Risk Number we can easily provide some action steps to bring your portfolio into alignment with your risk profile. Once we know the amount you are willing to risk we can provide you with a reasonable estimate of the gains you might expect in your portfolio over time. In other words, we can help you design an investment portfolio with a range of potential gains and losses over time that is within your comfort zone.

DEFINE YOUR RETIREMENT GOALS

We will also review your progress toward your financial goals by building a Retirement Map.  When we are finished, you'll better understand what we can do to increase the probability of success.