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Why are older investors less willing to take financial risks?

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  • Brooks, Chris
  • Sangiorgi, Ivan
  • Hillenbrand, Carola
  • Money, Kevin

Abstract

We investigate the link between age and tolerance of financial risks in the context of attitude to risk questionnaires completed by clients when meeting their financial advisors. Using a unique database comprising the responses to over half a million such questionnaires, we show that risk tolerance declines at an increasing, albeit slow, rate with age. We investigate the explanatory power of the ability to bear losses, declining investment horizon and retirement effects, finding that these variables have considerably greater explanatory power for the cross-section of risk aversion than age, and that they are only able to partially mediate the link between age and risk tolerance. We are unable to uncover any evidence that declining cognitive abilities among older investors are able to explain their lower willingness to take financial risks. Overall, our results are indicative of a modest age effect in risk tolerance that cannot be attributed to changes in other observable characteristics that differ between younger and older investors.

Suggested Citation

  • Brooks, Chris & Sangiorgi, Ivan & Hillenbrand, Carola & Money, Kevin, 2018. "Why are older investors less willing to take financial risks?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 52-72.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:56:y:2018:i:c:p:52-72
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2017.12.008
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    Cited by:

    1. Chris Brooks & Ivan Sangiorgi & Anastasiya Saraeva & Carola Hillenbrand & Kevin Money, 2023. "The importance of staying positive: The impact of emotions on attitude to risk," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 3232-3261, July.
    2. Niculaescu, Corina E. & Sangiorgi, Ivan & Bell, Adrian R., 2023. "Does personal experience with COVID-19 impact investment decisions? Evidence from a survey of US retail investors," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    3. Yaron Zelekha & Gitit Kavé, 2022. "Entrepreneurial tendency across the adult lifespan," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(2), pages 1-18, February.
    4. James Banks & Elena Bassoli & Irene Mammi, 2019. "Changing Risk Preferences at Older Ages," Working Papers 2019:01, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    5. John Grable & Eun Jin Kwak & Martha Fulk & Aditi Routh, 2022. "A Simplified Measure of Investor Risk Aversion," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 34(1), pages 7-34, January.
    6. Agostino Capponi & Sveinn Olafsson & Thaleia Zariphopoulou, 2019. "Personalized Robo-Advising: Enhancing Investment through Client Interaction," Papers 1911.01391, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2020.
    7. Brooks, Chris & Williams, Louis, 2021. "The impact of personality traits on attitude to financial risk," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    8. Suné Ferreira & Zandri Dickason-Koekemoer, 2020. "A structural equation model of financial risk tolerance in South Africa," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 1811595-181, January.
    9. Banks, James & Bassoli, Elena & Mammi, Irene, 2020. "Changing attitudes to risk at older ages: The role of health and other life events," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    10. John Grable & Dee Warmath & Eun Jin Kwak, 2022. "An Assessment of the Association between Political Orientation and Financial Risk Tolerance," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-16, April.
    11. Mariia Evdokimova & Anastasia Stepanova, 2023. "Students’ Propensity To Innovate: Correlates, Determinants, And Impact On GPA," HSE Working papers WP BRP 265/EC/2023, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    12. Inhwa Kim & Keith J. Gamble, 2022. "Too much or too little information: how unknown uncertainty fuels time inconsistency," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(2), pages 1-33, February.
    13. Brooks, Chris & Sangiorgi, Ivan & Hillenbrand, Carola & Money, Kevin, 2019. "Experience wears the trousers: Exploring gender and attitude to financial risk," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 483-515.
    14. Anbar, Adem & Eker, Melek, 2019. "The Effect of Sociodemographic Variables and Love of Money on Financial Risk Tolerance of Bankers," Business and Economics Research Journal, Uludag University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, vol. 10(4), pages 855-866, July.
    15. Agostino Capponi & Sveinn Ólafsson & Thaleia Zariphopoulou, 2022. "Personalized Robo-Advising: Enhancing Investment Through Client Interaction," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(4), pages 2485-2512, April.
    16. Geoffrey J Warren, 2022. "Design of comprehensive income products for retirement using utility functions," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 47(1), pages 105-134, February.
    17. Blake, David & Duffield, Mel & Tonks, Ian & Haig, Alistair & Blower, Dean & MacPhee, Laura, 2022. "Smart defaults: Determining the number of default funds in a pension scheme," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(4).
    18. Baker, H. Kent & Kumar, Satish & Goyal, Kirti & Sharma, Anuj, 2021. "International review of financial analysis: A retrospective evaluation between 1992 and 2020," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Retail investors; Risk tolerance; Attitude to risk; Effect of aging; Cognitive decline;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • C25 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions; Probabilities

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