How to run a risk profile meeting with a new client

A risk profile meeting finds out how much risk a client is willing to take, how much they can afford to take, and for how long their money can stay invested. Use the questionnaire as a starting point, not the answer: talk through the results, ask how the client reacted to past market falls, check their capacity for loss against their income, savings and commitments, and explain volatility in plain words with examples. Record what was agreed, and revisit it when their life changes.

A client may feel comfortable with risk but have no room to absorb a loss: a short horizon, little emergency saving, a large commitment coming up. Another may have plenty of capacity but lose sleep over small falls. The profile you agree has to respect both. When they point in different directions, explain the gap and agree which one sets the limit.

Money needed in two years and money set aside for retirement in twenty don't carry the same risk. Ask the client to list their goals with an approximate date and amount, and separate them into pots if needed. A single risk profile for everything may not fit a client with very different goals.

Before discussing investment risk, check that the client has cash set aside for emergencies. Without it, a broken boiler or a job loss can force them to sell investments at the worst moment.

A first-time investor may answer the questionnaire without knowing what a fall feels like. Spend more time on examples, start with simple products they understand, and plan an earlier review so they can tell you how they felt once their money was actually invested.

Ask whether the client has preferences on where their money goes: sectors to avoid, environmental or social criteria, a wish to keep things simple, or a need for access to part of the money at short notice. These shape the choices as much as the risk score, and asking early avoids proposals the client will refuse.

Write down the agreed profile, the reasons, the client's goals and horizon, and anything they asked you to avoid. Follow the record-keeping rules that apply to your activity where you work. Revisit the profile at regular reviews and whenever the client's situation changes: a new job, retirement, an inheritance, a separation, a health problem.

Partners can have very different attitudes to risk. Meet them together and, if needed, separately, and agree how joint money will be invested so neither feels overruled.

On Book, each service has a name, a price and an optional description shown on your public page. Create a "Risk profile meeting" service with slots long enough for a real conversation, in person or by video. In the description, say what the client should prepare: the questionnaire, a list of goals, recent statements. Clients book with their name, email and phone and can note their main goal in the optional note, which you read in your new-booking email. They receive a confirmation with a calendar file.

Durations and prices are examples: set your own. If you need to move a meeting, reschedule it from your bookings list and tell the client yourself, since Book doesn't email clients about changes. Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.