Quote from commiebat:
I think there is a difference. When people are looking for an income generating strategy they typically want month-to-month growth with minimal drawdowns, and preferably positive cash flow. Growth strategies tend to be more risk-tolerant and tolerant of short-term drawdowns on the way to long-term gains, and they tend to be more fully invested.
I used to think the same thing until I gained a lot more experience. If trading skill isn't considered, there is a direct relation between risk and reward. It doesn't matter whether you consider a particular strategy a growth strategy, or an income strategy.
Under the strictest guidelines, an income strat should guarantee income. This can only be accomplished via bonds, CDs, annuities, etc... This would make the OPs question pointless as these aren't strategies, but rather the only instruments that qualify. Which leads to the next point. These instruments require one to be fully invested. So under the strict income strat guidelines, the income strat requires greater capital allocation than your proposed growth strats.
If we are talking about assuming risk other than purchasing power risk, growth strats shouldn't be any more tolerant than income strats to drawdown. The reason is that additional tolerance to risk means greater potential for gains, by definition. If the person is targeting the same gains, he shouldn't tolerate additional risk simply because his objective is longer term.
Consider the following:
A certain strat requires 1 trade/day and 9 out of 10 months gains 3%
Another strat makes 1 trade/month that returns 3% and wins 9 out of 10 months.
Still another has an average holding period of 3 months, but still gains 3% 9 out of 10 months.
Which one is the income strat and which is the growth strat? It is impossible to know. The only way to tell the difference is whether the trader removes gains or compounds them. If the gains are re-invested it is a growth strat. If they are withdrawn, it is an income strat.
Regardless, neither is by definition more/less risky than the other.