Investor Profile Questionnaire

Define your goals. Understand your objective

As an investor, you’re unique. Your financial goals, current financial situation, investment experience, and attitude towards risk all help determine the mix of assets that’s just right for you. Thus, you need to define your goals and assess your current financial situation. You need to be honest with yourself about your investment experience and your attitude towards risk. Only after defining these factors can you start on the path to developing a plan for your retirement savings.

The questions in this Investor Questionnaire were designed to help you understand your investment objectives and your investment personality. You may use this service to support your investment-making decision for any situations.

As you answer the following questions, remember that there are no right or wrong answers. However, keep in mind that you must be completely candid, or the results won’t reflect your true investment personality.

Please answer each question. The score for each question is displayed in a small box on the right.

To see the total score after all questions have been answered, press the “Calculate Total Score” button. The total score determines your investor profile.

Your investment objectives

1. What is your primary objective for the money that you are investing?    
Score
(1) Car purchase or vacation
(4) Downpayment on a home
(10) To immediately start providing retirement income
(12) Children's education
(16) Saving for retirement
(20) Building up an estate
2. How long do you think you intend to manage your Canada Life savings and investment portfolio?    
Score
(1) Under 3 years (12) 13-17 years (26) More than 26 years
(4) 3-7 years (16) 18-21 years
(10) 8-12 years (20) 22-26 years

Your financial goals

3. What is your major goal for this portfolio?    
Score
(1) The security of my retirement portfolio is my only priority.
(3) While I do want my retirement portfolio to grow, I don' feel very comfortable with fluctuating returns.
(6) I want a balance between growth and security in my retirement portfolio with some protection from the impact of inflation.
(10) I'm primarily concerned with the overall growth of my retirement portfolio and am less concerned about fluctuation in returns.
(12) My sole objective in my retirement portfolio is maximum growth over the long term.
4. During the next five years, what portion of your portfolio do you expect to be withdrawing?    
Score
(1) 100% (10) 50% (22) 0%
(4) 75% (16) 25%

Your personal information

5. Which of the following ranges includes your current age?    
Score
(14) Under 30 (8) 50 – 59 (0) Over 79
(12) 30 – 39 (5) 60 – 69
(10) 40 – 49 (2) 70 – 79
6. Which one of the following ranges includes your current annual family income, including pensions, before taxes?    
Score
(2) Under $30,000 (8) $45,001 - $60,000 (17) $75,001 - $90,000
(5) $30,000 - $45,000 (12) $60,001 - $75,000 (20) Over $90,000
7. After deducting any loan and mortgage balances, which one of the following ranges includes your immediate family's overall net worth?    
Score
(2) Under $30,000 (8) $60,001 - $100,000 (17) $150,001 - $300,000
(5) $30,000 - $60,000 (12) $100,001 - $150,000 (20) Over $300,000
8. How would you rate your immediate family's overall financial situation?    
Score
(1) Unstable - We have next to no savings.
(3) Not very good - We have a fair amount of debt and little savings.
(6) Fairly good - We do have some debts but have been able to save a bit.
(12) Good - We have paid off most of our debts and are now saving quite regularly.
(18) Very good - We have few debts and are quite secure.
9. Other than your portfolio at Canada Life, which of the following sources of income do you expect to have after you retire?    
Score
Please select all the choices that apply:
(4) Rental property or the sale of a home.
(4) An inheritance.
(6) Other savings, such as an individual RRSP or pension plan at another institution or a government pension (for example, CPP or OAS).
(8) Spouse's savings and/or spouse's pension plan.
10. How would you rate your investment knowledge?    
Score
(1) Minimal - I consider my knowledge to be fairly limited.
(3) Modest - I've been investing for a few years and I sometimes read the business press.
(6) Moderate - I've been investing for several years within a broad range of different assets.
(12) Good - I've been investing for quite a while and I've lived through at least one market downturn.
(18) Very good - I'm an experienced investor and am comfortable with all the ups and downs in the market.

Your attitude toward risk

11. After a significant market decline, stock portfolios have historically taken an average of four years to recover lost value. Under the same circumstances, bond portfolios recover in an average of two years. Realizing that there will be occasional downturns in the market, haw long a recovery period are you prepared to weather?    
Score
(1) Less than three months (8) Six months to one year (20) 2 to 3 years
(4) Three to six months (14) 1 to 2 years (28) 3 or more years
12. Assuming that you are investing for the long term, what is the maximum drop in your portfolio's value that you could tolerate in any given year before feeling uncomfortable?    
Score
(0) I'd be uncomfortable with any loss.
(3) A 5% drop is all that I could live with.
(6) A 10% decline is something I could tolerate.
(12) A 15% drop would be about all I could stand.
(18) A 20% decline is pretty much my limit.
(25) A 25% decline is my absolute tolerance level.
13. You're offered two ways of collecting a bonus: either six month's salary in cash or an option to purchase stock that has a 50-50 chance of either doubling in value or becoming worthless over the next year. Which would you choose?    
Score
(1) I would definitely take the cash.
(3) I would probably take the cash.
(12) I would definitely take the stock option.
(10) I would probably take the stock option.
(6) I'm not sure what I'd do.
14. You are faced with a choice between greater job security with a small pay raise or a much higher pay raise but less job security. Which would you select?    
Score
(1) I would definitely choose greater job security.
(3) I would probably choose greater job security.
(12) I would definitely choose the higher pay raise.
(10) I would probably choose the higher pay raise.
(6) I'm not sure what I'd do.
15. Most investment decisions involve both the possibility of making money and a chance of loosing all or a portion of it. For many investors, the possibility of losing a set amount is more significant than the possibility of making a corresponding profit. When making an important investment decision, which seems more significant to you?    
Score
(1) I would consider the potential loss first.
(3) I would consider potential loss somewhat more.
(18) I would consider the potential gain first.
(12) I would consider the potential gain somewhat more.
(8) They're both about the same to me.