How is FinaMetrica different from other risk tolerance systems?
 Can I see a sample of the FinaMetrica questionnaire and report?
 Can I do my own risk tolerance assessment now?
 Can I have a free demo/trial of the system?
 How do I subscribe and how much does it cost?
 Who typically uses FinaMetrica?
 What makes a "good" risk tolerance test?
 Why are 25 questions needed?

How is FinaMetrica different from other risk tolerance systems?
The FinaMetrica risk tolerance system is a psychometric tool and has been adopted by leading advisers and private banks and brokers for over 10 years. To the best of our knowledge, FinaMetrica delivers the highest levels of validity, reliability and accuracy of the available Web based alternatives we have reviewed. The University of New South Wales' Applied Psychology Unit confirms that the FinaMetrica risk tolerance system meets or exceeds the internationally accepted standards for a psychometric tool. View Certificate.
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Can I see a sample of the FinaMetrica questionnaire and report?
Sample questionnaire and report can be viewed and downloaded from here. If you would like a demo of the system, please sign up for a free 30-day trial here. There is no obligation to buy and you get unlimited use of the system for 30 days.
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Can I have a free demo/trial of the system?
FinaMetrica has a 30-day free trial. Sign up for it here and see for yourself why FinaMetrica is being adopted by advisers around the world. There is no obligation to buy and you get unlimited use of the system for 30 days.
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Who typically uses FinaMetrica?
FinaMetrica have been adopted by leading advisers and private banks and brokers from 15 countries. Our typical users are client centric advisers and institutions who want a robust methodology for assessing their clients’ risk tolerance.
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What makes a "good" risk tolerance test?
A good risk tolerance test will be relatively easy to understand and answer. It must also have been developed on sound scientific principles in order to ensure the validity and reliability of its results. The starting point is a pool of potential questions. The trialing process these must go through will identify which questions work (statistically) and which do not. The questions that are effective in a questionnaire are not necessarily those most suitable for an interview. The Risk Profile report produced from a completed questionnaire provides details of the development of the FinaMetrica system.
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Why are 25 questions needed?
25 questions give the highest possible meaningful level of accuracy. A person's answer to a specific question may be influenced by a particular experience they have had, or their mood at the time. Or they may have misinterpreted the question. Or they may simply have made a mistake. Statistical studies are used to determine the number of questions needed to provide a scientifically acceptable level of accuracy in an assessment. The accuracy of a questionnaire is a function, in part, of the square of the number of questions. Because of the nature of risk tolerance more than just a few questions are needed. Statistical studies of FinaMetrica questionnaire show that its accuracy exceeds internationally accepted standards.
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I didn't receive or I've lost my trial Username and Password.
You should have received your Username and Password in an e-mail titled "Welcome to FinaMetrica". If you didn't see the e-mail, please check your "junk" mail folder as your mail filter may have treated our e-mail as "junk" or "spam". Alternatively, you may have accidentally deleted our e-mail or you may have entered an incorrect e-mail address when you registered or it may just be lost in the www. Please contact us to have your login details resent to you.
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What happens to risk profiles completed during the trial period if I choose to subscribe?
Any profiles completed during the trial period will be retained by us when you subscribe, you'll use the same adviser account. If you choose not to subscribe after the trial period, we delete all client data.
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Do you on-sell any client data?
FinaMetrica does not on sell any client data. We do perform internal and external research on the risk tolerance data, but this is done on an aggregate and anonymous level (all personal details, such as name and e-mail address are stripped beforehand). For more information regarding our data collection process, please read our privacy policy.
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Can I co-brand the FinaMetrica system?
The online questionnaire and report (what the client sees when they login at FinaMetrica.com) cannot be co-branded. However, if you choose to give your clients a hard copy questionnaire to fill in, then it is possible to co-brand that questionnaire with your company name and logo. You can also co-brand the report if you choose to copy the report from the web interface into a word doc and format it there. Our only proviso regarding co-branding is that the questionnaire needs to be acknowledged as FinaMetrica and our logo retained. Also, the questions are not changed in any way (so as to ensure the psychometric validity). If you would like to go ahead with co-branding, please let us know when you subscribe and we will send you an editable version of our hard copy questionnaire. There is no additional cost for co-branding.
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Do clients have to fill in the demographic questionnaire?
The demographic questionnaire does not contribute to the scoring process of your client's risk tolerance. Entering demographic data is optional: the collected data is used in an aggregated, anonymous manner for in internal and external research and background information only.
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Do couples complete one questionnaire or a separate one each?
It is common for couples to have different risk tolerances - sometimes significantly different. In most cases, they will know which is the more risk tolerant of the two but usually not the magnitude or detail of the difference. We recommend that couples each complete a separate questionnaire so that the differences can be identified more precisely. Armed with this knowledge, a couple is far better placed to decide how to manage the difference. Identifying couple mismatches is a great way to demonstrably add value as an adviser by helping a couple resolve the mismatch. It also often leads to very interesting communications - you'll find that some couples will spend time at home talking about their 'feelings' on the issue which is great way to help your clients feel part of the planning process.
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When to Re-Do a Risk Profile?
Risk tolerance is a stable attribute but it is not set in concrete. If a client has experienced a significant life or financial event, positive or negative, the risk profile should be re-done. Otherwise, every two or three years in order to capture changes over time. Think of it as monitoring your client’s financial blood pressure.
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What are the italic texts under 'Your Risk Group' in my client's report used for?
Each risk group has a six-part description summarising how those in that group typically answer the risk tolerance questionnaire. Where an answer of your client's differed from the answer(s) typically given by the group, it is shown in italics below the relevant section of the group description.

Usually, there are three to five such differences reported. People in a risk group are similar but not clones of one another. People at the edges of groups tend to have more differences than those in the middle. However, there may be no differences (because all your client's answers were typical for your group) or there may be many. The number of differences is an indication of how consistent your client is about financial matters. Some of us are more consistent than others. Being inconsistent is simply human rather than good or bad ... but it is something your client should know.
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Why seven Risk Groups?
The FinaMetrica risk profiling system measures risk tolerance on a scale of 0 to 100. Scores are Normally distributed with a Mean of 50 and a Standard Deviation of 10. To make the scores and reports more meaningful, the scale has been divided into seven segments. The middle segment is the Mean plus or minus half a Standard Deviation, i.e. from 45 to 54. Segments either side are then a Standard Deviation higher or lower, with the end segments covering the balance of the high and low ‘tails’ of the distribution.

Seven segments are needed to provide sufficient differentiation between people at different points on the scale, particularly for those with extremely low or extremely high risk tolerance. Three Standard Deviations either side of a mean describes the vast majority of the population. This leads to seven segments. Each of the segments is referred to as a Risk Group.

Each Risk Group description has been developed by analysing how those whose scores fall into a particular group typically answer the questionnaire. Fifteen of the twenty five questions have been considered in the analysis. These questions were selected on the basis of their utility in providing a general understanding of the Risk Groups.
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What is the Linking Spreadsheet?
The Linking Spreadsheet shows how to link FinaMetrica risk tolerance scores to asset allocations. FinaMetrica's system does not produce a portfolio recommendation. What the Linking Spreadsheet does is show which one of your standard portfolio's matches your client's risk tolerance.

With that information you can make an 'apples-to-apples' comparison between risk tolerance (the portfolio that matches your client's risk tolerance) and investment risk (the portfolio that will most likely reach your client's goals), enabling your client to make properly informed risk/return trade-off decisions because the elements are separate, understandable and comparable. Visit our System Resources page to download the Linking Spreadsheet.
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What is the Risk and Return Guide and Charts?
The Risk and Return Guide and Charts is a value added resource to help you manage your clients expectations. It combines the results from two separate studies: the analysis of 20,700 completed risk profiles, and the historical back-testing of a representative set of investment portfolios on a month-by-month basis for the last 30 plus years.

The Risk and Return Guide and Charts help you to educate clients about risk and return and to manage their risk and return expectations. They include flash-cards for each of FinaMetrica's seven risk groups which show you that group's preferred portfolio, their 10-year return expectations and their sensitivity to volatility. The flashcards show how often members of that risk group failed to meet, met or exceeded their return expectations, how often the portfolio descended below their comfort zone for 'falls', and how often, when and how long for the portfolio was rising, falling or recovering over the past 30 plus years. Visit our System Resources page to download the Risk and Return Charts.
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What is 'gap analysis'?
'Gap analysis' is a phrase we coined to describe the process by which a client's risk tolerance can be compared to the risk inherent in the portfolio required to achieve the client's goals (in shorthand "risk required") and, if there is a mismatch between risk tolerance and risk required, how the mismatch is resolved. This is explained in our QuickStart Guide – see Cautions, page 1, and Gap Analysis and Resolving The Gap, pages 7-9.
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