What’s the difference between risk level and risk tolerance?

Risk level is determined by a combination of factors.

Risk tolerance is how much risk you feel you can take. Are you ready to risk bigger losses for the potential of bigger rewards? Then you can tolerate a lot of risk. (Risk tolerance: High.) If you want to play it safe and have potentially smaller returns to guard against loss, you can tolerate less risk. (Risk tolerance: Low.)

Your risk level is set by Stash based on a number of factors. You call fall into Conservative, Moderate, or Aggressive. Choosing your risk tolerance helps determine your risk level, but we also must take into account your financial situation, age, and a variety of other factors.