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Contribution Details

Type Working Paper
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title Willingness to be financially informed and the benefits of nudging investors to do so
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Remo Stössel
Language
  • English
Institution University of Zurich
Series Name SSRN
Number 2629058
ISSN 1556-5068
Date 2015
Abstract Text Bhattacharya et al. (2012) shows that many investors are reluctant to accept and follow financial advice. This study analyzes three possibilities which could cause this misbehavior: non-monetary costs, willingness to become informed and comprehensibility of financial information. As so many investors do not accept financial advice, the study further analyzes if it is beneficial to nudge investors to do what is good for them (i.e. a risk profiling task). In order to improve the comprehensibility of financial information, the study further tests if different kinds of investors prefer different kinds of risk description formats. The results show that non-monetary costs and the comprehensibility of financial information are not the reasons why so many investors are reluctant to become informed investors. Moreover, nudging investors to do what is good for them is especially beneficial for investors who are intrinsically insufficiently motivated to become informed and who are financially unexperienced. Last but not least, the data clearly shows that different kinds of investors prefer different kinds of risk description formats.
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Official URL http://ssrn.com/abstract=2629058
Other Identification Number merlin-id:12519
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