Starting an ETF portfolio

It seems the 'risk limit' is a bit of a problem.

I set it to $50,000 (for no reason in particular. I still don't fully understand how the risk limit works).
Anyway, I didn't give them an annual gross income, because I'm really not sure what it is. I'm a personal trainer and my pay has been quite volatile. Plus I'm relatively new to the field.

So I got a call from Macquarie and they can't approve the risk limit without more information. So I need to fill in a change of risk limit form, and provide the relevant information. The guy I spoke to told me to take my monthly income and simple times it by 12.

I did this (turns out to roughly $16,000pa). How does this figure effect my risk limit?

I'm not even sure what I'm talking about anymore...

Any thoughts?

Anyone?

Sorry to be a pain, but I want to finish up my application before I procrastinate any further.

http://www.riskglossary.com/link/risk_limits.htm

Thanks.

I'm not sure what would be an appropriate risk limit to request, given my low income.

How much are you planning to borrow?

You can just start with the lowest limit and if you need more later, apply for a higher limit then.

http://www.riskgrades.com/retail/rghelp/

The lowest selectable limit was like $100,000 or something. I put down $50,000 as my risk limit, but don't really plan to borrow at all. I was just going to invest using my own money at this stage, but it was required that I fill out that section.

If you are not planning to borrow, why don't you put your risk limit at $0.00 ?

Well, I guess that makes sense.

I warned you guys that I'm learning disabled.

So, it turns out I should have applied for a 'loss limiter' account if I didn't want the margin loan facility.
But one of the guys at Macquarie has been very helpful, and I think I've filled out everything I need to in order to set up the right account.

I really do know how to make a simple process very complicated.