The Influence of Financial Advisors on Household Portfolios: A Study on Private Investors Switching to Financial Advice

Abstract

Investment advisors have significant influence on private investors' financial decisions but empirical studies of their behavior are rare. Based on a large and unique data set of the detailed portfolio compositions and daily transactions of more than 65,000 customers of a large German direct bank, we first compare advised investors with groups of non-advised investors, including matched peers. We find that the effect of investment advice is probably less than assumed. To underline this finding, we conduct an event study comparing 597 investors before and after the decision to take regular investment advice. We find much higher trading activity after the event due to advisors re-structuring clients' portfolios, less risky and speculative trading and rising diversification.