With expanding retail markets for the delivery of fi- nancial services, service prov~ders in investment markets that were previously accustomed to interacting only with institutional counter- parts are today increasingly meeting individual consumers. In this article, the authors develop and val~date a discriminant model that provides basic empirical profiles of investors engaged in the more- or-less risky process of self-allocating investment dollars. Results contribute to an understanding of invcstor perceptions of risk, shed- ding ligh~ on the role of traditional socio-economic market segmcn- tation variables. The article also enhances our understanding of the cfrects of goal setting, loss tolerance, and perceived risk on selection of the "ideal" investment strategy.