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The Impact of Financial Advice on Trade Performance and Behavioral Biases

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Listed:
  • Daniel Hoechle
  • Stefan Ruenzi
  • Nic Schaub
  • Markus Schmid

Abstract

We use a dataset from a large retail bank to examine the impact of financial advice on investors’ stock trading performance and behavioral biases. Our data allow us to classify each individual trade as either advised or independent and to compare them in a trade-by-trade within-person analysis. Thus, our study is not plagued by the endogeneity problems typically faced by studies on financial advice. We document that advisors hurt trading performance. However, they help to reduce some of the behavioral biases retail investors are subject to, but this does not overcompensate the negative performance effects of the bad stock recommendations.

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  • Daniel Hoechle & Stefan Ruenzi & Nic Schaub & Markus Schmid, 2017. "The Impact of Financial Advice on Trade Performance and Behavioral Biases," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 21(2), pages 871-910.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:revfin:v:21:y:2017:i:2:p:871-910.
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    1. Origins of bad policy
      by chris in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2015-02-14 18:55:06

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    Cited by:

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    2. Bellofatto, Anthony & Broihanne, Marie-Hélène & D'Hondt, Catherine, 2019. "Appetite for information and trading behavior," LIDAM Discussion Papers LFIN 2019002, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain Finance (LFIN).
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    5. Hackethal, Andreas & Laudenbach, Christine & Meyer, Steffen & Weber, Annika, 2018. "Client involvement in expert advice: Antibiotics in finance?," SAFE Working Paper Series 219, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    6. Philippe d'Astous & Irina Gemmo & Pierre-Carl Michaud, 2022. "The Quality of Financial Advice: What Influences Client Recommendations?," NBER Working Papers 30205, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Bjarne Florentsen & Ulf Nielsson & Peter Raahauge & Jesper Rangvid, 2022. "How Important is Affiliation Between Mutual Funds and Distributors for Fund Flows? [Is unbiased financial advice to retail investors sufficient? Answers from a large field study]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(4), pages 971-1009.
    8. Daniel Hoechle & Stefan Ruenzi & Nic Schaub & Markus Schmid, 2018. "Financial Advice and Bank Profits," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(11), pages 4447-4492.
    9. Eriksen, Kristoffer W. & Fest, Sebastian & Kvaløy, Ola & Dijk, Oege, 2022. "Fair advice," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    10. Shin, Su Hyun & Kim, Kyoung Tae & Seay, Martin, 2020. "Sources of information and portfolio allocation," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    11. Olivier Mesly & Hareesh Mavoori & Nicolas Huck, 2023. "The Role of Financial Spinning, Learning, and Predation in Market Failure," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(1), pages 517-543, March.
    12. Briana Chang & Martin Szydlowski, 2020. "The Market for Conflicted Advice," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(2), pages 867-903, April.
    13. Bernd Scherer & Sebastian Lehner, 2023. "Trust me, I am a Robo-advisor," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(2), pages 85-96, March.
    14. Hugh Hoikwang Kim & Raimond Maurer & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2019. "How Cognitive Ability and Financial Literacy Shape the Demand for Financial Advice at Older Ages," NBER Working Papers 25750, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Hsu, Yuan-Lin, 2022. "Financial advice seeking and behavioral bias," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB).
    16. Baeckström, Ylva & Marsh, Ian W. & Silvester, Joanne, 2021. "Variations in investment advice provision: A study of financial advisors of millionaire investors," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 716-735.
    17. Cruciani, Caterina & Gardenal, Gloria & Rigoni, Ugo, 2021. "Trust-formation processes in financial advisors: A structural equation model," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 185-199.
    18. Pablo-Romero, María P. & Sánchez-Braza, Antonio & Gil-Pérez, Jesús, 2023. "Is deforestation needed for growth? Testing the EKC hypothesis for Latin America," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    19. Horenstein, Alex R. & Snir, Avichai, 2017. "Portfolio choice in Mexico," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 1-13.
    20. Steffen Westermann & Scott J. Niblock & Jennifer L. Harrison & Michael A. Kortt, 2020. "Financial Advice Seeking: A Review of the Barriers and Benefits," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 39(4), pages 367-388, December.
    21. Wang-Ly, Nathan & Bateman, Hazel & Dobrescu, Isabella & Newell, Ben R. & Thorp, Susan, 2022. "Defaults, disclosures, advice and calculators: One size does not fit all," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial Advice; Individual Investors; Trade Performance; Behavioral Biases;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages

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