With any investment there is a balance between risk and reward. Before you invest, know how much risk you can stand.

VanCity investment specialist Petra Remy agreed to meet with CTV Consumer Reporter Chris Olsen to talk about his comfort level for risk in an RRSP.

She says one of her toughest jobs is to convince clients to be careful when the stock market is rising

"I manage about 57 investment specialists [and] one of the things we train them to do is watch for euphoria," she said.

"When the market is good, everyone thinks they are going to make 100 per cent."

People want to buy when things are high and don't want to buy when things are down, which is when the market is on sale.

"It takes a lot of educating around that just as much as when I call it pulling people off the ceiling, we have to rebalance and take a look at what we have,"

Here's what she means by "rebalancing":

Investments do not all grow at the same rate. If you only want moderate risk, you start with a balanced portfolio reflecting an even split of cash and equities.

But if your stocks have a really good year and shoot up in value, you feel great -- you've made lots of money. But because more of the money in your portfolio is now sitting in the riskier equities category, you actually now have a more risky growth portfolio than you'd be comfortable with.

"Potentially [that] could mean that your investments could go down tomorrow by 30 per cent," Petra said.

That means if you don't want higher risk, you need to sell some stock to bring your investments back into balance.

Your retirement goals can affect your risk tolerance. Is it a retirement filled with dream vacations?

Do you want or need to maintain a larger home or will you downsize? Will you move to a smaller, less expensive community or do you want to live in the big city where a small apartment can cost a small fortune?

Your dreams affect how much risk you may want to take.

And remember, everything has risks: term deposits have risks, leaving your money under the mattress has risks. You have to decide how much risk you're willing to take. And finally, have regular meetings with your financial advisor to review where you are at in terms of reaching your goals.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen