Research has shown that, as a result of certain behavioural biases, individuals do not always

Purpose By looking at both theoretical and empirical findings, this study aims to investigate whether gender diversity results in improved corporate governance and financial performance for companies. Design/methodology/approach An analysis of the board composition of the Johannesburg Securities Exchange Top 40 companies as at 30 June 2013 and a comparison of the financial performance of the company were conducted. Findings Female directors were found to make up, on average, 18.78 per cent of the board of directors, with the majority of these women being in non-executive positions. Women representation appears to influence company performance positively when using accounting-based measures of performance (such as return on assets and return on equity), but negatively when using market-based measures (such as Tobin’s Q). The critical mass concept is also assessed and is found to have a positive effect. Originality/value These findings are of relevance to the boards of directors adhering to corporate governance requirements by challenging the role of women on the board of directors, as well as that of investors and those in practice, to understand the current status of women representation.

This study investigates the relative importance of trait anger and trait anxiety in financial decision-making. Given the disparate economic, cultural and social environments within an emerging market, this study focuses on South Africa to provide unique insights. The use of a student experimental cohort and hypothetical scenarios allows for the assessment of prima facie evidence of the merits of future research using more experienced participants and more realistic scenarios. Gender and race are incorporated as explanatory variables given the history of South Africa and the disparate opportunities amongst individuals of different races. Both variables are also notable indicators of financial behaviour and decision-making. A questionnaire was completed by 288 university students which measured Trait anxiety and Trait anger using the Anxiety Inventory and Anger Expression Inventory-2. Using multinomial logistic regressions, the results showed that White participants (rather than Black, Indian or mixed-race participants) and those individuals with higher levels of anger are more inclined to invest in equity. Alternatively, Women and individuals with higher levels of anxiety were found to be more risk averse. These findings are relevant to financial advisers as most of the predictive outcomes relate to risk which is vital in making investment decisions. While prior research has shown the relevance of personality traits on investment performance, the added dimension of gender and race adds practicality to the findings. It also highlights the necessity of including demographic variables when assessing personality traits.

This study examines the level of financial literacy and self-assessed financial literacy amongst members of a South African tertiary institution's retirement fund. Based on surveys of the fund's members, I employ descriptive statistics and multivariate regression analyses to examine differences in financial literacy within and across groups. The results show that, despite working for an employer implementing many best practices identified by financial literacy advocates, respondents from all demographic subgroups possess relatively low levels of financial knowledge. Men, White respondents, and those with a higher cost of employment or higher educational attainment were more likely to have a higher level of financial knowledge. In addition, while most respondents were accurate in their self-assessments of financial literacy, those less accurate self-assessments typically underestimated their abilities. The general accuracy of self-perception implies a self-awareness that can be appropriately exploited to attract lessnumerate individuals to training courses. Overall, the findings suggest we might more efficiently target training to subsets of individuals.

This study's primary aim is to determine whether members of a South African tertiary institution's retirement fund are en route to have sufficient retirement savings. Secondly, the results are analysed between different social factors namely: age, gender, race, education level, marital status, and cost of employment. Survey data and information received directly from the retirement fund were used as inputs in a customised model. This method was unique to this study, that is, it was able to consider broader circumstances other than the member's retirement savings within the fund only. Among the sample of 753 respondents, one‐third of respondents will have insufficient retirement savings and <10% will have enough. Single, younger and male respondents are most likely to have sufficient retirement savings and this is suggested to be as a result of advantageous annuity rates upon retirement. Black/African respondents were least likely to have sufficient retirement savings. Notwithstanding the racial population divide following apartheid, societal and cultural explanations speak to a culture of increased spending coupled with high financial dependency relationships. Thus, the findings provide rich information which necessitates policies which address leakage from retirement savings, appropriate defaults, and the availability of innovative and affordable savings vehicles.

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Research has shown that investors trade too frequently and that this overtrading lowers investment return. This paper examines the characteristics of those investors that trade frequently. Using over three years of trading data of 7 200 investors at a brokerage firm in the UK, descriptive statistics and multiple regression analyses were able to identify the predictive characteristics of investors that trade often. Most noteworthy is that trading frequency is positively skewed resulting in a small proportion of investors doing the majority of the trading with the highest cumulative value. These frequent trading investors tend to be male, younger and make use of multiple mediums of trading to trade. These mediums include the internet, the telephone, an advice team and use of stop losses.

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