Risk tolerance and age

People, on the average, seem to grow more risk averse as they grow older, post early adulthood. While this certainly rang true anecdotally, further research agrees that this is indeed the case.

What could be the reasons for this? Could it be one or more of:
- Waning physical abilities impact confidence
- Societal expectations of maturity and associated behavior
- Memory of previous failures
- Adjustment, consciously or subconsciously, for slowing cellular regeneration rate
- Brain anatomy changes, some of which are related to aging

Given my propensity for unconventional choices in life, and also recognizing that these choices sometimes worry my family and friends, I often think about the risk-return ratios of my choices. Risk, as used in conversational English, rather than representing itself, likely represents the risk-return ratio, or maybe the risk adjusted returns. And risky choices or behaviour would be ones where one might have an expectation of a low return. Unconventional choices are perceived to have low or unknown risk-return ratio. I think I do have behavioral traits that make it more fun for me to make riskier choices. I

Risk tolerance and age

Additional reading