Using data from a U.S. household survey, we examine the empirical relation between subjective life horizon (i.e., the self-reported expectation of remaining life span) and portfolio choice. We find that equity portfolio shares are higher for investors with longer horizons, controlling for...

It is known that investors over-invest in "home" assets. Yet, there is much debate on whether superior information or sentiment drives this behavior. Using the sports-betting market as a real-market laboratory, we find individuals exhibit a bias toward home-team wagers, which does not yield...

We investigate the heterogeneous effects of financial literacy on individual investment decisions during and after the 2008 financial crisis. While differentiating objective and subjective financial knowledge, we find that only subjective knowledge is positively related to participation in...

Since the early nineties, the Dutch tax system allows for a tax-favored form of risk free savings through employer-sponsored savings plans (ESSPs). Under some conditions and up to a certain amount, the contributions to this planare tax-deductible, and the returns as well as the withdrawals are...

Normative analyses of household financial decisions typically assume parameters of the household utility function. Some general issues on parameter assumptions for normative analysis are discussed in this study. We review selected normative household analyses appearing in finance and economics...

Present bias is an important term in behavioral finance that is derived from the concept of self-control. Empirical research finds that present bias is associated with undesirable spending, borrowing, and saving behavior. Unlike previous research that focuses on one domain of financial behavior,...

Using a unique dataset of over 6,000 clients of a German advisory firm who have received rule-based financial advice on basic retirement provision and the insurance of major life risks, we investigate households' response to advice when the risk of product misselling is effectively minimized....

This article sheds light on a scarcely explored area of research related to herd behavior in urban settings of developing economies, where the use of motorized twowheelers has been increasing rapidly. Using primary survey-based data from Nepal, we examine whether potential motorcycle buyers in...

We study how managers of funds created to invest for the long run behave when shielded from liquidity constraints and their investors' short-term needs. Using the universe of US target-date funds (TDFs), we document that asset managers exploit lower investor attention to deliver lower...

Several explanations for the observed limited stock market participation have been offered in the literature. One of the most promising one is the presence of market frictions mostly in the form of fixed entry and/or transaction costs. Empirical studies strongly point to a significant structural...