What kind of investor are you?
The market dropped 30% this week. You:
About this quiz
Self-categorising as conservative, balanced or aggressive sounds simple, but most people get it wrong in one direction or the other. Younger investors often classify as conservative because they have never lived through a serious drawdown; older investors often classify as aggressive because their tolerance was set during a long bull market they now mistake for normal conditions. The three questions in this quiz are designed to disambiguate by asking about your reaction, not your aspiration.
The first question probes time horizon — the single biggest determinant of appropriate risk. The second asks about behavioural response to volatility (a hypothetical 20% drop). The third asks about diversification preference, which separates classic balanced from concentrated aggressive. Scoring is additive: the combination of answers lands you in one of three archetypes, each mapped to a textbook stock/bond ratio used by Israeli pension funds and global ETF providers.
The output is not personal investment advice. It is a starting frame. From the result you can look at your existing pension track, brokerage holdings or kupat gemel allocations and ask whether the actual mix matches the suggested one — and if not, why.
How it's structured
Three multi-choice questions. Each answer carries 1-3 points; the total maps to a band. We deliberately keep it short — research on instruments like the Grable-Lytton scale shows the first 3-5 questions capture most of the variance, and longer instruments lose accuracy from fatigue.
How to read your result
Conservative — roughly 40% stocks / 60% bonds. Short horizon or low behavioural tolerance. Steady but limited upside. Expected long-run nominal return roughly 4-5%/year. Drawdowns typically capped at 10-15%.
Balanced — roughly 50% / 50%. Medium horizon and tolerance. The classic Israeli pension "medium-risk track" (Maslul Bonim) sits here. Expected long-run nominal return roughly 5-6%/year. Drawdowns of 15-25% are normal in bad years.
Aggressive — roughly 80% stocks / 20% bonds-and-cash. Long horizon, high tolerance. Most early-career mandatory pension defaults effectively run this allocation. Expected long-run nominal return roughly 7-8%/year. Drawdowns of 30-40% appear in a multi-year bear market — staying invested is the whole game.
(If you got "ultra-aggressive" — 90%+ equities) Only appropriate if you have already lived through one full market cycle and stayed invested. Otherwise step down to aggressive until you have proven your own behaviour.
What to do next
Run the suggested allocation through the compound interest calculator with the corresponding expected return. Take the Risk Check for a more detailed allocation. For Israeli ETFs, gemel, and pension track choices see the investments guide.
FAQ
Can three questions really classify me?
For high-level categorisation, yes. To resolve fine-grained allocation within an archetype, use the Risk Check or talk to an adviser.
What if I get a different answer from the Risk Check?
The Risk Check uses objective inputs (age, income, savings) while this quiz captures behavioural tolerance. Differences are informative — the lower of the two is usually the right anchor.
Are the archetypes Israeli-specific?
The framework is global, but the suggested implementations reference Israeli ETFs, kupot gemel tracks and pension maslulim available in 2026.
How do these archetypes map to Israeli pension tracks?
Conservative maps roughly to Maslul Klali Solidi or bond-heavy tracks. Balanced maps to Maslul Klali Bonim. Aggressive maps to Maslul Metzitz Mehnyot (equity-heavy) or to Maslul Klali for younger members.
Should I change pension track based on this?
The quiz is a prompt to review, not an instruction to switch. Pension track changes are easy and free in Israel, but should be deliberate.
What about real estate as an investment?
Not modeled here. Real estate behaves differently from financial assets (illiquid, leveraged, location-specific). For most Israeli households the primary residence already provides real-estate exposure.
Methodology
Three-question structure adapted from the short-form Grable-Lytton Financial Risk Tolerance Scale (1999). Allocation bands cross-checked against published Israeli pension fund maslul (track) compositions and Vanguard target-date glide paths. Updated for 2026 by the Yesh Cash Editor.