Paper Title
How UK Financial Planners Identify their Clients Risk Profile

Abstract
Purpose: The study seeks to investigate how UK Financial Planners identify a suitable risk profile to use with a client. Design/Methodology: A grounded theory-based exploration was carried out based on interviews with financial planners. Findings: Based on the study UK financial planner`s typical clients are older, wealthy and engaged. UK financial planners typically use proprietary software systems for an initial assessment of their clients’ risk profiles; this is often supplemented by the use of narrative and discussion about aspects of risk and the use of graphs and data. The risk capacity is however often assessed separately using cash flow modelling software. Research limitations: The paper is based on a small sample of UK based financial planners. The financial planners surveyed held a high-level professional qualification and less experienced/qualified providers of financial advice may operate differently. Conclusions: UK financial planners appear to expend considerable efforts both to identify a suitable risk profile for their clients, using software and also to educate their clients via explanation and graphical information to help them avoid negative behaviour caused by behavioural biases, particularly fear responses.