Know your risk tolerance before you get started (10/14)

Imagine that you are investing $10k and plan to need the money in ten years. If the value of your investment dropped rapidly to $8k, do you think you would panic and sell? Or do you think you’d be able to keep your cool for the long haul? 

If you would panic, you’d probably be wiser to be a little more conservative in your investments, but if you think you would keep your cool, you can likely go riskier. There are a lot of calculators out there that can help you figure out your risk tolerance.

Contributor: TimStobierski founder and editor of studentdebtwarriors.com