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Certainly your ability to pay off potential margin calls should be considered before you think of buying on margin to increase your leverage power. Remember that the more you buy on margin, the more risk you take on. Lastly, if you think that stocks are too risky for you then you should carefully select instruments that match your risk profile. Try the questionnaire designed by two professors majoring in finance in the U.S. below to see what types of investment are suitable for you based on your investment objectives. Table 1. Investor Risk Profile Investor risk profile 1. Liquidity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2. Safety of principal 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3. Price stability 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 4. Reinvestment protection 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 5. Capital growth 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 6. Cash income 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7. Growth of income 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. Inflation hedge 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Circle 7 if the following risk characteristic is very important for you. If the risk is little concern to you, circle 1. If you select 4, you are moderate about this risk characteristic. In short, 1=< not too important >>>7=very important. Part A Total score: If A totals 48 or more points you want it all. You want to be protected from all risks which is impossible. Your answer will be more consistent if you had high numbers in B and low numbers in C or low numbers in B and high numbers in C. Then you would be stating that you understand that several of these risk go together and several do not blend well. Part B Add scores for items 1,2,3,4, and 6: If B totals between 30 and 35, you are risk averse and want liquid investments that have stable prices, safety of principal and generate an above average cash income. You would basically prefer fixed-income instruments such as fixed-deposits and bonds. Part C Add scores for items 5,7, and 8: If C totals between 18 and 21, you are aggressive investor seeking growth of income and principal and long-run protection against inflation. You would probably be comfortable with stocks (large or small-cap), high yield bonds and international securities. If you have very low numbers in part B between 10 and 12, you are extremely aggressive. If you have moderate numbers in part B between 20 and 25 you would be moderately aggressive.