Richard Baxter's Profile

However, I've increasingly come to believe that an individual's
assessment of his or her risk tolerance should play second (or maybe
third or fourth) fiddle to other considerations--such as time horizon,
the size of your nest egg, your savings rate, and the expected returns
from various asset classes

Rather than letting irrational risk
aversion drive your asset-allocation mix, use an online asset-allocation
tool, a financial planner, or a target-retirement fund to help steer the
way. These sources of asset-allocation guidance aren't infallible, but
they're a big improvement over letting your emotions guide your
stock/bond mix.