Conventional wisdom says that risk tolerance soars in good times and collapses in bad times and that this drives behavioural change. However it is argued that the changed behaviour is not due to changed risk tolerance but might well be due to changes in perceived risk and, perhaps, risk capacity. As a result, reliance on traditional risk questionnaire profilers is dangerous and provides a poor understanding of a client’s risk tolerance. Furthermore, they fail to encourage clients’ ownership of one of the most critical parts of their financial plan - the level of financial risk they take on in their investments. The evidence for the enduring nature of an individual’s financial risk tolerance is reviewed. Four key aspects of risk tolerance that should be taken into account in the provision of investment advice are defined and  the risk trade-off decisions that an individual needs to make are illustrated.