Anyone paying attention to the news knows the stock market has had a rough ride of late. So what are your plans for your money? Are you unwilling to take a gamble with your hard-earned cash, or do you belong to the no-risk-no-gain school of thought? Whatever your temperament, it should have an impact on the kind of investments you choose, says Adrian Mastracci, portfolio manager at Vancouver’s KCM Wealth Management. But being either too cautious or too cavalier can carry risks when it comes to saving for a bigger house, your child’s education or your retirement plans. Take our quiz to determine your investor personality, then read on for targeted advice to get the biggest bang for your investment buck.

1 You stashed some cash to take the kids to Disney World, but a month before you are due to go, you’re downsized. Would you:
A Cancel the trip.
B Go, but look for budget accommodation — campsites are cheap at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort.
C Tack on an extra two weeks’ vacation. I might never be able to take this much time off again!

2 You make your investment decisions by:
A Determining which bank has the highest rate on GICs.
B Relying on my advisor’s expertise and reading the financial pages.
C I’ve always had good luck with Pamela the Phone Psychic.

3 How would you feel if your investment(s) dropped in value?
A Hang on, I’ve finished biting my nails, but I haven’t started yet on the baby’s. I’ll let you know in a minute.
B I wouldn’t exactly be doing cartwheels, but I’d take it in stride. The market is subject to corrections and I’m in it for the long haul.
C And I’d know that how?

4 Stocks are:
A The kind of investment that keeps me up at night.
B Shares in publicly traded companies — and a necessary component to a balanced portfolio.
C Flavoured broths that you use to make soup.

What’s your score?

Add up the number of As, Bs and Cs you circled. The category in which you have the highest score represents your investor personality, even if all of your answers don’t fit the bill.

Mostly A’s: Cash cautious You are — as you probably know — extremely risk-averse. We get it, but there’s one simple problem with your approach. If you’re not willing to take on any amount of risk, your investments are barely going to keep up with the rate of inflation, warns Mastracci. At least 30 percent of your investments should be in equities, he says, with 20 percent allocated to the Canadian market and five percent each for U.S. and global markets. Look into dividend-paying securities.

Mostly B’s: Steady as you go You probably know a little about investing and you recognize the importance of putting money away regularly and having a balance of fixed-income investments (like bonds and GICs) and stocks or equity mutual funds in your portfolio. Mastracci suggests allocating 30 percent of your equity investments to Canadian stocks or mutual funds and 10 percent each to the U.S. and global markets. “The Canadian economy generally makes up less than three percent of the world economy,” he points out. “And yet many people are far too concentrated on investing at home.”

Mostly C’s: Careless with coin You may have thus far avoided investing completely, or perhaps thrown away some cash on penny stocks in hope of a quick return. Keep it up and you’ll be able to afford a trailer in a tornado zone during your golden years. Turn to banks or a brokerage firm to provide a savings projection for free — since you’re willing to take a risk, you might look at allocating up to 65 percent of your portfolio to equities and 35 percent to fixed income investments. Then arrange for monthly withdrawals from your paycheque into an RRSP account. You won’t miss the cash if it never makes it into your hot little hands.

Camilla Cornell is a Toronto writer, mom of two and a self-confessed steady-as-you-go investor.

Keep reading for tips to help your kids manage money.