Individual Investors' Needs and the Investment Professional: Lessons from Marketing

Abstract

The behavioral finance literature argues that investors may care about more than risk and returns. Investing may offer expressive benefits such as status and feelings of social responsibility as well as utilitarian benefits such as low risk in combination with high returns. Different investors like stocks for different reasons as they try to satisfy different needs with investments. This empirical study examines the different needs that investors aim to satisfy by investing. The investment survey resulted in a fine-grained distinction between these different needs and showed important differences between female and male investors, between younger and older investors, and between less knowledgeable and experienced investors and more knowledgeable and experienced investors.

Keywords: Behavioral Finance, Investment Consultants, Investment Professionals, Marketing Investors' Needs

JEL Classification: G11