What are the three most important things in investing? Allocation, allocation and allocation. That’s gospel in the financial planning business. It’s not your stock selection that really matters. It’s the percentage of assets you have in stocks, bonds and cash. A finer-grained version considers allocations to U.S. versus foreign stocks and short- versus long-maturity bonds. Even here, investing is regarded as all about categories.

This advice from financial planners is well and good, but it doesn’t go far enough. In an era when individuals are largely left to sink or swim on their own financially, you need to go beyond the usual exercise of slicing up portfolios into types of assets and instead allocate your entire life.

The question you should be asking: How do other aspects of my life–my career, home, marriage, pension and spending–affect my financial well-being?

Be forewarned that some of what follows is unorthodox, and planners are somewhat hesitant to endorse the conclusions. What they do agree on is the importance of understanding risk tolerance. In other words, it’s important not only to devise a strategy that makes sense to you on a sunny Sunday afternoon but also to create an investment portfolio that you’ll stick with during times of economic stress.

“The most successful investment strategies are the ones that keep people in their seats when the market goes down,” says Michael Kay, an adviser who runs Financial Focus in Livingston, N.J.

Here are four sources of financial risk and how to reduce them.