Problem: This study aims to examine the factors that influence the individual's different choice of risk level. Demographic characteristics are the underlying factors being analyzed in the study with a special emphasis on geographic factors – this in order to analyze and explain the Swedish individual’s approach to risk. Based on certified private advisers’ perspective, the study will also examine their approach to manage individuals’ risk. Purpose: Studying the differences in risk aversion among individuals when making investment decisions, based on demographic factors and geographical areas. Theory: The essay’s theoretical framework deals with theories covering behavioral finance, the risk appetite development in individuals at a demographic and geographic way, and an overview of previous research on the subject. Method: We conducted a quantitative study in which 340 respondents were asked to answer a survey. We also interviewed three certified counselors from three different banks in Sweden. Conclusions: In line with behavioral finance theory, people are not rational when making investment decisions. The study concludes that people in big cities tend to be more risk-averse than people in smaller cities. Sex is shown to be a differentiating factor with men having a higher risk-aversion than women. A higher income and level of education leads to a higher risk attitude and marital status affects the risk appetite where a married person has a higher risk appetite than a person who is single. Age and education, showed to have no relationship to the level of risk.

The popularity of KiwiSaver, combined with a demographic shift to an ageing population, will make savings invested in KiwiSaver an important source of income in retirement. To investigate the investment fund choices by KiwiSaver members a survey was circulated among 134 people; 87 KiwiSaver members, and 47 non-members. Respondents answered questions on their investment behavior, knowledge, and risk attitudes towards investment in general, and KiwiSaver. The results show investment in KiwiSaver tends to be conservative as a result of low levels of involvement, knowledge, and risk tolerance, and is more common among females. Investment in riskier growth funds is mostly by younger people and those who are risk tolerant as measured by the KiwiSaver Risk Profile.

Abstract In the recent years, there has been a wave of financial globalization and it caused the rapid expansion of financial markets, financial markets become more open, capital flows speeded greatly, and new financial product published in the market, increased the degree of mutual influence. In the 2007, the subprime mortgage of America caused the global financial crisis. Most invest banks such as Lehman Brother and brokers and lots of investors were hurt deeply by the financial crisis and the assets reduced rapidly as well. Due to the collapse of the financial system, lots of banks need to issue new financial product like Dual Currency Deposit (DCD) to customers instead of structure note. However, the new financial products have sold very well, it caused great concern to the government to restrict strictly to financial consultants and establish the classification for investors. The thesis use survey research and collect relevant reference to discuss the change of the investors¡¦ investment behavior and risk preference of the new financial products after the financial crisis. The questionnaire can be divided into four parts which are personal data¡Binvestor¡¦s risk attributes¡Bthe risk of new financial products and investment related information. In conclusion, we found the level of personal risk and commodity risk inconsistently. For the reason, the investment risk does affect the confidence of investors after the financial crisis. Furthermore, the financial institutions can target the groups of 40-49 year old ages as the future marketing. Most respondents believed that the investment environment between Taiwan and Hong Kong are different in financial policies¡Bfinancial officers knowledge. Consequently, we wish can provide Taiwan financial institutions for further reference for professional investors with specialized service and qualified financial consultants. Keyword: financial crisis, structured product, risk, investment behavior, survey research

Accompanied by the enormous losses cause by the worldwide economic recession and Internet bubbles, venture capital industry at the same time is faced with another crucial problems: for a venture capital firm, what characteristics should a venture capitalist possess? How does these characteristics influence the behaviors of the venture capital firms and venture capitalists themselves? As everyone knows, venture capital firms differ significantly in business strategies and fund sources, thereby give rise to the difference of venture capital firms in selecting the characteristics of venture capitalists. Therefore, universal traits and characteristics of venture capitalists are difficult to find out. In the circumstances, venture capital firms must understand how venture capitalists characteristics may influence investment behaviors and strategies. By means of the analysis of the characteristics of venture capitalists and venture capital firms, this study tries to find out the important factors affecting the behaviors of venture capitalists. Through the empirical research towards the Taiwan venture capitalists, several findings are presented in this study. As finding shows, some characteristics of venture capital firms such as firm age have a great influence on the behaviors of venture capitalists. Moreover, from the insignificance of some factors examined in this study, we conclude that there are still some structural factors influencing the behaviors of venture capitalists.

The empirical data indicates that Generation Y generally has a very high average financial literacy. The rationality they exhibit in the mastery of financial information and tools does not affect their savings and investments. Instead, the investment behavior is given in expression by their character, but also demographic basis.

Thesis advisor: Alicia Munnell / Thesis advisor: Tony Webb / Risk level of investments helps to determine investment return in the long run. Consequently, it is important to understand how investors determine their acceptable level of risk. Previous studies have suggested that women have a lower risk tolerance in investing than men. This is troubling because it means that women are likely to make lower returns on investments than men. This difference in acceptable risk could lead to income inequality between men and women during retirement as people rely on wealth generated from investments made during their lifetime to live during this stage of life. This study seeks to explain what motivates women to choose their acceptable level of investment risk by expanding on the models of previous studies, which are believed to be overly simplistic in their treatment of gender. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2008. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

Att veta hur man som individ bör handla och hur man egentligen gör, har alltid förbryllat forskare. Då generationer kommer och går, är det alltid en fråga i hur dessa generationer ser på saker och ting, som i vårt fall, investeringsbeteendet. Tidigare studier har påvisat hur generation X (1965-1979) och generation Y (1980-1995) bör bete sig då generationerna har olika kännetecken i beteende. Det har även forskats mycket om vilka kognitiva egenskaper hos en individ som påverkar investeringsbeteendet. Syftet med uppsatsen är att förklara om det finns någon skillnad mellan de olika generationerna, och i så fall, vad detta kan bero på. För att genomföra denna uppsats har en positivistisk forskningsfilosofi valts, i kombination med en deduktiv ansats och en kvantitativ metod. Uppsatsen kunde indikera att det i helhet inte fanns någon signifikant skillnad mellan de olika generationerna vid utfrågning av de olika beteende mönstren. Dock var det diverse faktorer som det skiljde sig åt mellan generationerna som inkomstnivå, utbildningsnivå och strategi vid val av investering. Vidare kunde man antyda vilka faktorer som påverkade investeringsbeteendet, där tidspreferensen kunde förklaras, inkomst och strategiskt planerande kunde delvis förklara investeringsbeteendet. Begränsningar med uppsatsen var att respondenterna valdes slumpmässigt under en kort period, där kunskap och intresse för finansiella investeringar varierade. Enkätstudien kunde på så sätt bli oförståelig för respondenterna och resultaten missvisande som en följd av detta. Dock är forskningen kring generationsskillnader väldigt begränsad, därför kan denna uppsats vara en grund för vidare forskning inom samma område, då man kan försäkra sig med denna uppsats, just vilka områden som berörts. / Knowing how we as individuals should act and how individuals actually behave, have always puzzled scientists. While generation comes and goes, it is always a question of how these generations look and react to things, and in our case, investment behavior. Previous studies have demonstrated how Generation X (1965-1979) and Generation Y (1980-1995) should act, when these generations have different characteristics in their behavior. It has also been researched a lot about the cognitive characteristics of an individual that affect investment behavior. The purpose of this paper is to explain if there is any difference between the different generations, and if so, what it might be due. To implement this essay has a positivist research philosophy chosen, together with a deductive approach and a quantitative method. The essay could indicate that in the whole there was no significant difference between the different generations at the hearing of the different behavioral patterns. However, it was various factors that differed between the generations as income level, education level and strategy in the selection of investment. Furthermore, one could suggest what factors influenced investment behavior, where time preference could explain, capital and strategic planning could partly explain investment behavior. The limitation of this thesis was that the respondents were randomly selected and sampled for a short period of time, in places where knowledge and interest in financial investments varied. The survey study could thus be incomprehensible to the respondents and the answers misleading as a result. However, research on generational differences is very limited to date; therefore this paper can act as a basis for further research in the same area, when because of this essay, you know which areas have been analyzed.

The subprime mortgage of America caused the global financial crisis. Most invest bankers and brokers were hurt deeply by the financial crisis. Due to the collapse of the financial system, the value of the investor¡¦s assets reduced rapidly. Those investors who invest in the mutual funds are exposed to the high risk. The mutual fund investors become the victims of the herding behavior. People invest in the hot investment market like Brazil, China, Russia etc.. The undue sales of the variable universal life (VUL) and the structure notes have destroyed the faith relationship between the investors and the financial consultants. However, the financial consultants did not show up the investment risk entirely in the process of sales. Therefore the investors neglected the risk which they could bear. For this reason, the risk of their investment behavior also exceeded the limit. Consequently, we discuss the change of the investors¡¦ investment behavior and risk preference of the mutual fund investors.

Nyanländande Generation Y håller på att positionera sig på arbetsmarknaden och omfattas av individer födda inom intervallet 1980 – 1995. Det återfinns dessvärre ytterst lite forskning gällande generationens investeringsbeteende. Mestadels av tidigare forskning har hittills handlat om hur tidigare generationer, så som Baby Boomers och Generation X, tenderar att investera. Denna studie har därför försökt bidra till att fylla ut tomrummet i kunskapen beträffande Generation Y. Studien utreder investeringsbeteendet hos Generation Y genom att undersöka hur specifika karaktäristika påverkar deras sä̈tt att investera. Således är syftet med denna studie att kartlägga och analysera hur Generation Y:s särskilda karaktäristika påverkar deras investeringsbeteende. Tillvägagångssättet har varit att det först konstruerades en modell utifrån den redan tillgängliga forskningen, varpå uppsatsen därefter avsåg att testa validiteten och kvaliteten i våra antaganden och i den upprä̈ttade modellen. Uppsatsen utfördes med hjälp av en kvantitativ metod med positivistisk filosofi och deduktiv ansats. Undersökningsverktyget som till största grad användes för studien var en internetbaserad enkät där respondenterna fick ta del av en rad olika påståenden. Respondenterna som har deltagit i denna studie är till majoriteten bosatta i Sverige och omfattar respondenter som vid undersökningstillfället var 15 – 70 år. Denna studie indikerar slutligen att Generation Y har ett särskilt investeringsbeteende och att deras specifika sätt att investera på grundar sig i deras särskilda karaktäristika, vilket också påvisas med hjälp av ett antal statistiska modeller. Resultatet åskådliggör ytterligare att även demografiska faktorer som modersmål, kön och ålder påverkar investeringsbeteendet. Ett förslag till framtida forskning kan vara att komplettera uppsatsens kvantitativa metod med en kvalitativ metod. Detta tillvägagångssätt hade således kunnat bidra till en djupare förståelse för forskningen och ett bättre resultat och har därför varit av stort värde för uppsatsen. / The newly arriving Generation Y, that embraces the individuals born within 1980 – 1995, is on the way of positioning themselves on the labour-market. Unfortunately, there has not been done much research on the investment behavior of this generation. Mostly of previous research has been about how previous generations, the Baby Boomers and Generation X, tend to invest. This study therefore sought to help fill the gap in knowledge regarding the Generation Y. This study investigates the investment behavior of Generation Y by examining how specific characteristics affect their approach to investing. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify and analyze how Generation Y’s specific characteristics affect their investment behavior. The approach has initially been that a model was constructed based on the already available research, whereupon the paper then aimed to test the validity and quality of our assumptions and of the established model. The essay was performed by a quantitative method with a positivistic philosophy and deductive logic. The research tool for this study was, to the biggest extent, an online survey in which a variety of claims were presented to the respondents. The respondents who participated in this study, with the majority residing in Sweden, were at the time of the study 15 – 70 years old. This study indicates that Generation Y has a particular investment behavior and that their specific way of investing is based on certain characteristics, which is also shown by the several statistical models that have been used. The result further illustrates that also demographic factors, such as native language, gender and age, has affection on the investment behavior of Generation Y. A proposal for future research might be to supplement the essay’s quantitative method with a qualitative one. This approach could possibly contribute to a deeper understanding of science and a better result, and would therefore be of great value to the essay.

Background: Stock ownership has been increasing in Sweden, with 2,7 million individual owners in 2022, up from 2,1 million in 2018. A trend shows that younger individuals are becoming more involved in stock ownership, while those over 40 are decreasing in numbers. Traditional finance theories, such as neoclassical finance, assume rational decision-making and advocate for diversified portfolios, but behavioral finance acknowledges the impact of psychological factors and biases on investment decisions. Evidence suggests that households tend to reduce diversification levels during stock market crashes, which may be influenced by demographic factors.   Purpose: The aim is to investigate whether the Covid-19 stock market crash influenced the portfolio allocation and asset preferences of Swedish private investors. Specifically, we examine whether there were changes in diversification levels and whether demographic factors such as gender, age, education, and portfolio wealth impacted investment behavior. The research seeks to provide a comprehensive understanding of how Swedish private investors responded to the stock market crash.   Method: We adopt a deductive approach, rooted in the positivistic philosophy. The data for our research was collected through a quantitative survey involving 232 participants. However, only 127 were used for the data analysis. Building upon prior research, seven alternative hypotheses were formulated and examined using the binary logistic model with the statistical tool SPSS and STATA.   Conclusion: Findings from this study show that 30% of participants reported an increased diversification in response to the Covid-19 stock market crash. The only demographic factor that had a significant impact on investors’ likeliness to alter their diversification levels were gender. Women were found to be more likely to increase their diversification levels in response to a stock market crash than men. There has been a shift in asset allocation preferences, with a growing preference for safer options such as mutual funds and ETFs, and a decrease in riskier assets such as stocks. However, we do not find any flight to liquidity.