The purpose is to investigate whether there are any significant differences in risk                                                             tolerance in equity investments between the genders. Further, the study intends to                                                        investigate wether independent factors such as age, income, education and                                                                  confidence effects the risk tolerance of an individual.Method: The study has adapted a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The                                                      primary data has been collected through surveys and semi-structured interviews.                                                           The adopted research approach  is deductive and the study population consists of                                                                men and women in Sweden, which are or have been active equity investors. Theory: Describes the concept of risk tolerance in financial decisions. The theory further                                                             explains an individual’s descisionprocess in relation to risk, with its overvaluation                                                         to a positive probability and its undervaluation to a negative risk. Further, a                                                     several factors are explained and discussed that influence an individual’s risk                                                        tolerance. Conclusion: Differences in risktolerance between the genders has been proved. Furthermore,                                                             the influence of the factors age, income and education are statistically proved.                                                                Finally the impact of self confidence were proven through qualitative data. / Syfte: Syftet är att undersöka om det finns några signifikanta skillnader i riskbenägenhet                                                        vid aktieplacering mellan könen. Vidare ämnar studien undersöka om oberoende                                                           faktorer som ålder, inkomst, utbildning och självförtroende påverkar                                                                        riskbenägenheten hos en individ. Metod: Studien har antagit en kombination av kvalitativ och kvantitativ metod.                                                                         Primärdata har således samlats in via enkätundersökningar samt delvis                                                                           strukturerade intervjuer. Studiens sekundärdata består av tidigare forskning.                                            Forskningsansatsen som antagits är deduktiv och studiens population utgörs av                                                  män och kvinnor i Sverige, vilka är eller någon gång har varit aktiva                                                                         aktieplacerare. Teori: Beskriver begreppet riskbenägenhet vid finansiella beslut. Även teori som                                                                         förklarar en individs beslutsprocess i förhållande till risk, med dess                                                                                   övervärderingar till en positiv sannolikhet och dess undervärdering till en negativ                                                          risk. Vidare förklaras och diskuteras ett flertal faktorer som påverkar en individs                                                           riskbenägenhet. Slutsats: Skillnad i riskbenägenhet mellan könen har påvisats. Vidare har påverkan från                                                                faktorerna ålder, inkomst och utbildning statistiskt bevisats. Avslutningsvis                                             bevisades självförtroendes påverkan genom kvalitativ data.

The purpose of this study was three-fold / to determine the personality and financial risk-taking attitude differences between sports gambling students and non-gambling students, to specify gambling motivations of the sport gambling students and to identify the relationship among personality traits, financial risk-taking attitude and gambling motivations of the students who gamble on sport events. The subject group of this research was composed of 1109 Middle East Technical University students who were participating in sport gambling activities (n=435) and who had never participated in sport gambling activities (n=674). While males were composing the 63.1% (n=700), females composed 36.9% (n=409) of the total research group. The mean age of the subject group was 21.77 &plusmn / 2.12. Big Five Personality Inventory (John, Donahue, &amp / Kentle, 1991), Investment Risk Attitude Scale (Nyhus, 1995) and Gambling Motivation Scales (Chantal, Vallerand and Vallieres, 1994) were used in the data collection process of the research. Results indicated that sport gambling students and non-gambling students showed significant differences in personality (p&lt / .01). There was significant differences between sport gambling students and non-gamblers in extraversion , conscientiousness and in openness trait (p&lt / .002). Also, results demonstrated that sport gambling students and non-gambling students showed significant differences in financial risk-taking attitudes (p&lt / .01). Personality and gender variables accounted for a significant amount on the financial risk-taking attitude of the non-gambling subjects. Personality, gambling motivations and gender accounted for a significant amount on the financial risk-taking attitude of sport gambling subjects. Sport gambling students showed no significant difference in their gambling motivations according to their gender (p&gt / .01). Sport gambling students were primarily motivated with intrinsic motivating factors of gambling. Personality, financial risk-taking attitude and gambling experience accounted for a significant amount on the gambling motivations of sport gambling students. Finally, this study pointed that university students who were more extraverted and more open were more prone to gambling on sport events and were more permissive towards financial risk-taking. Additionally, results revealed that enjoyment, amusement and learning were the primary motivating factors that lead university students towards sport gambling.

Syftet med studien är att identifiera om det finns någon skillnad i risk mellan svenska män och kvinnors aktieportföljer. I undersökningen av individernas riskbenägenhet används tre riskmått, total risk, marknadsrisk och unik risk, som enligt portföljteorin går att koppla till en individs aktieportfölj. Ålder och inkomst används som kontrollvariabler för att studera om eventuella skillnader i riskbenägenhet mellan könen kan förklaras av andra faktorer än kön. Studien baseras på en kvantitativ undersökning och sekundärdata från en unik databas. Urvalet för studien består av knappt 900 000 observationer av svenska individers aktieportföljer, med kontroll för kön, ålder och förvärvsinkomst. Resultatet av studien visar att det föreligger signifikanta skillnader mellan könens riskbenägenhet. Studien finner dock inga tydliga resultat för att män skulle vara mer riskbenägna än kvinnor, då könen tar olika hög risk beroende på vilket riskmått som avses. Resultaten visar på att skillnader mellan könens riskbenägenhet även existerar efter att variablerna ålder och inkomst studerats. / The purpose of this study is to identify whether there is any difference in risk between the stock portfolios of Swedish men and women. In the investigation of individual’ risk propensity, three measures of risk are used, total risk, market risk and unique risk, which according to the portfolio theory can be linked to an individual’s stock portfolio. Age and income are used as control variables to study whether any differences in risk propensity between the genders can be explained by other factors than gender. The study is based on a quantitative study and secondary data obtained from a unique database. The sample for the study consists of nearly 900 000 observations of Swedish individual’s stock portfolios, controlling for gender, age and income. The results of the study show that there are significant differences between the genders’ risk propensity. The study finds, however, no clear evidence that the men would be more risk-prone than women. The genders take different levels of high risk depending on which measure of risk involved. The results show that differences between the genders’ risk propensity also exists after studying the control variables age and income.

This thesis consists of an introductory part and four self-contained papers related to individual financial behavior and risk-taking in financial markets. In Paper [I] we estimate within-family and community social interaction effects upon an individual’s stock market entry, participation, and exit decision. Interestingly, community sentiment towards the stock market (based on portfolio outcomes in the community) does not influence individuals’ likelihood to enter, while a positive sentiment increases (decreases) the likelihood of participation (exit). Overall, the results stress the importance of accounting for family social influence and highlight potentially important differences between family and community effects in individuals’ stock market participation. In Paper [II] novel evidence is provided indicating that the influence from family (parents and partners) and peer social interaction on individuals’ stock market participation vary over different types of individuals. Results imply that individuals’ exposure to, and valuation of, stock market related social signals are of importance and thus, contribute to the understanding of the heterogeneous influence of social interaction. Overall, the results are interesting and enhance the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of social interaction on individuals’ financial decision making. In Paper [III] the impact of divorce ­­­on individual financial behavior is empirically examined in a dynamic setting. Evidence that divorcing individuals increase their saving rates before the divorce is presented. This may be seen as a response to the increase in background risk that divorce produces. After the divorce, a negative divorce effect on individual saving rates and risky asset shares are established, which may lead to disparities in wealth accumulation possibilities between married and divorced. Women are, on average, shown to not adjust their precautionary savings to the same extent as men before the divorce. I also provide tentative evidence that women reduce their financial risk-taking more than men after a divorce, which could be a result of inequalities in financial positions or an adjustment towards individual preferences.   Paper [IV] provides novel empirical evidence that gender identity is of importance for individuals’ financial risk-taking. Specifically, by use of matching and by dividing male and females into those with “traditional” versus “nontraditional” gender identities, comparison of average risk-taking between groupings indicate that over a third (about 35-40%) of the identified total gender risk differential is explained by differences in gender identities. Results further indicate that risky financial market participation is 19 percentage points higher in groups of women with nontraditional, compared with traditional, gender identities. The results, obtained while conditioning upon a vast number of controls, are robust towards a large number of alternative explanations and indicate that some individuals (mainly women) partly are fostered by society, through identity formation and socially constructed norms, to a relatively lower financial risk-taking.