Effects of aging on gender differences in financial markets.

Abstract

Gender differences in risk-taking and investment decisions have been widely documented in the financial markets. Utilizing trading information from individual investor brokerage accounts, this paper explores the effects of aging on gender differences in terms of portfolio turnover and returns. We document that male investors trade more frequently than female investors and yield lower portfolio returns, but these gender differences attenuate substantially with age. Our study suggests that gender differences documented by experiments or surveys with young participants might not be generalized across age groups.