Or are you risk averse? If you're risk-averse, it generally means you don't like to take risks, or you're comfortable taking only small risks. It was originally a financial investment term, but has become more mainstream in more recent times. I've never been a risk taker, on any front, which goes along with me being an over-thinker. Ron on the other hand is a risk taker, and he's generally a shoot-from-the-hip kind of guy. And it's funny, because even though I'm risk averse, I do lots of physical things like zip lining, (I've zip lined one of the longest lines in the world) and kayaking Class 4 - 5 rapids. I enjoy aerial trekking (it's sort of like an obstacle course, but suspended from trees) and other physical activities. On the other hand, I won't go sky diving, I don't like rollercoasters, and I don't like to speed. I don't gamble and am very careful with money. I think it boils down to doing those things in which I'm able to have a decent degree of control. Falling out of a plane doesn't give me much control but piloting a kayak does. That kind of thing. What about you?
I guess I’m a risk taker. After all, I have two x wives. Seriously though, yeah, even my step-mother told me years ago that I have some sort of death wish. In my past, if whatever I did had a good adrenaline rush to it, so be it. I’m not crazy stupid about it like the guy who jumped without a parachute and landed in a big net but I have made around 1,200 blasts from various aircraft and using a few different types of chutes with my highest jump at 21,050 feet and my lowest at 1,280. The only zip line I have ever had any interest in was in jump school but that said, I have gone hands and ankles on a cable stretched across a river (about 75 yards) without a harness. I got wet the first two times. Money wise, it comes and goes. It’s a tool that I use to make more money or spend on whatever. It’s a great thing to have and lousy to be without but I remain the same either way. Note: I was thinking about risk takers here on the forum and my mind went to @Trevalius Guyus who likes to climb trees. I imagine very high trees at times. Now That’s risky business both physically and mentally but for him, monetarily as well. Along with him, I know there are a few more dopamine addicts here so there should be a fairly good response to the thread.
Yes, I am and then I'm not, it depends. I lost my brother (and his fiancée) in a motorbike accident early in life and I guess it has had a lasting effect on me. I learned the hard way that life can be over in a flash. So I tried to assess the risks I was willing to take. Yet there were near-death situations while serving in the army and while working in the Middle East nonetheless. I'm really grateful that I have managed to survive up until today and am not ready to take any unnecessary risks at old age. When I was younger I did take certain risks as an investor on the stock exchange, when building and financing a house, and while quitting, looking for, and accepting jobs but luckily everything turned out well. After all, life is still full of risks that have to be taken even if you're trying to be cautious. Experience may help us to assess potentially dangerous situations better than when we were younger. If you feel responsible for a family, you often will take other risks than singles. And then there's a great deal of luck as well if you manage to navigate yourself and yours through the storms of life.
To a point, I'm a risk taker. In fact, I read a soft-back book, named Risking, written by Dr. David Viscott in Los Angeles, CA. It was highly interesting.
@Ronni Gates Having nearly drowned (in high school, naked in the pool with all the other guys), I have harbored a lifelong fear of deep water. That's one risk avoided.......But, I have taken many risks during my lifetime, some scarily unsafe, some downright damn-foolish. So cannot classify definitely, but probably lean towards "risk taker". \ Frank
No; I'm very cautious. Though I do have some high-risk investments, which I am regretting these days.
I am a risk taker in varying degrees depending on the risk. I have Bungy Jumped, White Water Rafted, Scuba Dived. Hot Air Balooned, Invested, Social Risked, Relationship Risked.
Not me, never ever ! I was an only child, raised by a mother who was 40 when I was born, and the words that I grew up hearing 24/7 were “BE CAREFUL, BE CAREFUL !”. I was told , “It is better to be a live chicken then a dead goose”, and other similar sayings. I do not know if being careful and not taking risks is something that would have happened naturally, or if it was just because of the way that I was raised. In any case, I do not like risk taking, in any form.
My riskiest activity was motorcycling but after an accident at age 60, I gave it up. I thought It would be nice to see age 61 and so on. Not risky at all with money. Age and experience should bring wisdom, so I know now what to avoid.
No I am not a risk taker. I have been cautious in life. I rode morotcycles the bigger part of my adult life but I was a cautious rider, a cautious investor. and if I took minor risks most often I didn't know they were risks at the time. I am still a non risk taker.
Not much of a risk taker at all. Almost every major thing I want to do I'll think first of what is the worst possible thing that could happen. If I'm willing to live with it, I might do it. Then I think what is the chance the worst will happen. If it's really small, I might still do it. Otherwise I pass.
Despite being pegged as a risk taker, above, I must say, here, that I'm not. AAMOF, when I'm gunning a chainsaw six inches from my face, hanging by a 1/2" diameter rope, sixty feet above a major highway, pruning a two-hundred year old Live Oak, I feel safer than when I'm walking down my hall in the middle of the night. Being tied in, with my harness on, I'm very safe and secure. This feeling comes from years and years of climbing trees. If a given tree seems unsafe to me, I won't climb it. As the monthly tree accident reports from around the USA show, my business is a dangerous one, usually rated in the top two or three professions. However, as the old saying goes: There are young, risk-taking tree workers and there are old, safe tree workers. There are no old, risk-taking tree workers. Sooner or later, in my business, if you don't quickly "learn the ropes" (pun intended), Mother Nature takes you out of the biz, permanently.
@Nancy Hart What you're saying is parallel to my own philosophy regarding the value of pessimism..... Frank