Is Unbiased Financial Advice to Retail Investors Sufficient? Answers from a Large Field Study

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bhattacharya, Utpal; Hackethal, Andreas; Kaesler, Simon; Loos, Benjamin; Meyer, Steffen
• 署名单位: Indiana University System; IU Kelley School of Business; Indiana University Bloomington; Goethe University Frankfurt
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF FINANCIAL STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0893-9454
• DOI: 10.1093/rfs/hhr127
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 975
• 关键词: home bias; portfolio; performance; diversification; recommendations; disposition; returns; WEALTH; COSTS; eggs

摘要

Working with one of the largest brokerages in Germany, we record what happens when unbiased investment advice is offered to a random set of approximately 8,000 active retail customers out of the brokerage's several hundred thousand retail customers. We find that investors who most need the financial advice are least likely to obtain it. The investors who do obtain the advice (about 5%), however, hardly follow the advice and do not improve their portfolio efficiency by much. Overall, our results imply that the mere availability of unbiased financial advice is a necessary but not sufficient condition for benefiting retail investors. (JEL D14, D11, G24, G28)