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Individual Investor Activity and Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Magnus Dahlquist
  • José Vicente Martinez
  • Paul Söderlind

Abstract

We examine the daily activity and performance of a large panel of individual investors from Sweden’s Premium Pension System. We find that active investors earn higher returns and risk-adjusted returns than do inactive investors. A performance decomposition analysis reveals that most outperformance by active investors is the result of active investors successfully timing mutual funds and asset classes. While activity is beneficial for some investors, extreme flows out of mutual funds affect funds’ net asset values negatively for all investors. Financial advisors, by contributing to coordinate investments and redemptions, exacerbate these negative effects.Received March 10, 2015; editorial decision September 8, 2016 by Editor Andrew Karolyi

Suggested Citation

  • Magnus Dahlquist & José Vicente Martinez & Paul Söderlind, 2017. "Individual Investor Activity and Performance," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 866-899.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:30:y:2017:i:3:p:866-899.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rfs/hhw093
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    Cited by:

    1. Conrado Cuevas & Dan Bernhardt & Mario Sanclemente, 2023. "Followers of the pied piper of pensioners," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(4), pages 1517-1550, November.
    2. Hagen, Johannes & Malisa, Amedeus, 2022. "Financial fraud and individual investment behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 593-626.
    3. Mathias S. Kruttli & Phillip J. Monin & Sumudu W. Watugala, 2017. "Investor Concentration, Flows, and Cash Holdings : Evidence from Hedge Funds," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2017-121, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    4. Lapanan, Nicha, 2018. "The investment behavior of socially responsible individual investors," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 214-226.
    5. Fung, Scott & Tsai, Shih-Chuan, 2021. "The price discovery role of day traders in futures market: Evidence from different types of day traders," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 53-77.
    6. Baltakys, Kęstutis & Kanniainen, Juho & Saramäki, Jari & Kivelä, Mikko, 2023. "Investor trade allocation patterns in stock markets," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 191-209.
    7. Alison Preston & Robert E. Wright, 2023. "Gender, Financial Literacy and Pension Savings," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 99(324), pages 58-83, March.
    8. Aldunate, Felipe & Da, Zhi & Larrain, Borja & Sialm, Clemens, 2025. "Pension fund flows, exchange rates, and covered interest rate parity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    9. Grant, Andrew & Kalev, Petko S. & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar & Joakim Westerholm, P., 2022. "Retail trading activity and major lifecycle events: The case of divorce," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    10. Florian El Mouaaouy, 2018. "Financial crime ‘hot spots’ – empirical evidence from the foreign exchange market," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(7-8), pages 565-583, May.
    11. Agnesens, Julius, 2013. "A statistically robust decomposition of mutual fund performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 3867-3877.
    12. Anderson, Anders & Robinson, David, 2024. "Climate Polarization and Green Investment," HOSS Working Paper Series 2024-15, Stockholm School of Economics, House of Sustainable Society (HOSS), revised 05 Feb 2024.
    13. Fung, Scott & Obaid, Khaled & Tsai, Shih-Chuan, 2024. "Information acquisition and processing skills of institutions and retail investors around information shocks," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions

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