가계의 간접투자자산 투자현황 및 관련요인 분석

Abstract

This study examined individual investors’ mutual fund investment behavior by using the “2007 Survey of Fund Investors” by Korea Investors Education Foundation. Due to its relatively short history and lack of household or individual level data on mutual fund investments in Korea, not many research on mutual fund investment behavior has been conducted so far. Most of the previous research focused on households’ investment behavior on risky assets(such as stock) in general. The purpose of this study is to explore mutual fund investment of Korean household by examining mutual fund investment behavior in general and identifying the factors related to mutual fund investment. Individuals’ investment in general and mutual fund investment in specific can be described with various savings models such as modern portfolio theory, preliminary asset choice theory and behavioral life-cycle hypothesis. According to the modern portfolio theory, individual investors can choose an optimal portfolio by examining efficient frontier based on individual’s preference and risk and return relationship between and among various investment options. Recent research included additional explanatory variables to the original modern portfolio theory such as occupational and household related risk factors and the nature of those risk factors. Therefore individual investors investment behaviors are influenced by not only the characteristics of various investment options but also the personal and household characteristics of each investor has. Many research included personal and psychological characteristics in addition to socio-economic and financial characteristics. This study examined two fund investment behaviors: mutual fund ownership and the total balance of mutual fund investment each household has. Specific type of mutual fund investment such as lump sum investment or installment investment, and stock fund investment were also investigated. Therefore two types of variables (i.e., ownership, total balance) for each of the four mutual fund types (i.e., total mutual fund investment, lump sum investment, installment investment, and stock fund investment) were examined. Independent variables were categorized as four groups: demographic characteristics of respondents, household characteristics, household financial characteristics, and psychographical characteristics. The demographic characteristics included age, gender, education, and occupation. The household characteristics included area of residence, number of household members, number of wage earners in the household, number of children, and home ownership. The financial characteristics included total household income and net worth. The psychographical variables included savings goal, investment horizon, expectations on the economy, real estate market, interest rates, stock market, and future income, and financial risk tolerance. To identify the factors related to the ownership of each type of mutual fund and the balance, Heckman Two step analyses were conducted using STATA 11. The number of household who owned mutual fund investment in any type was 59.4%. More household owned installment investment fund and stock fund investment than lump sum investment fund and bond fund investment. The average of the total mutual fund investment balance was about 33,330,000 Korean won and it takes about 18% of the total financial assets. The findings of this research showed that personal (demographic), household, financial, and psychographical characteristics are related to mutual fund investment behaviors in different ways. Detailed results are described below. Findings showed that the respondent’s age, gender, education, occupation, number of wage earners in the household, home ownership, household income, net worth, savings goal, investment horizon, expectations on real estate price, stock market, and future income, and financial risk tolerance are significant variables for mutual fund ownership. Those who are younger, female, have higher levels of education, have no jobs compared to those who work in sales and services or blue color self employed, and homeowners are more likely to own mutual fund. Also the number of wage earners in the household, household income, total financial assets are positively related to mutual fund ownership. Those who have long term investment horizon and higher levels of financial risk tolerance are more likely to have mutual fund. Those who have pessimistic outlook on real estate market and optimistic outlook on stock market and future income also more likely to own mutual fund. The balance of mutual fund investment are related with age(-), educatin (+), number of wage earners (+), homeowners, household income (+), net worth (+), investment horizon (+), outlook on the future income (-) and financial risk tolerance. For the installment investment options, age (-), gender (female), education (+), occupation (no job compared to blue color self employed), number of wage earners (+), homeowners, household income (+), net worth (+), investment horizon (+), pessimistic expectations on real estate market, optimistic expectations on stock market, pessimistic outlook on the future income, and financial risk tolerance (+) were significant factors for the ownership. The factors influence on the balance of the installment investment were age (-), number of wage earners (+), homeowners, household income (+), net worth (+), investment horizon, pessimistic outlook on the future income, and financial risk tolerance (+). For the lump sum investment the significant factors for the ownership are the same as the installment investment. The factors for the balance of the lump sum investment included gender (male) and net worth (+). The findings for stock funds are similar to the previous findings. Overall, age (-), gender (female), education (+), household size, number of wage earners, home ownership, investment horizon (+), expectations for future real estate market, stock market, and future income, and financial risk tolerance (+) were significant factors for the ownership of stock fund. The balance of stock funds was influenced by net worth (+), expectations for future interest rate and stock market. These findings suggested that the decision to own mutual fund could undergo different process from the decision to make actual investment amount. Age, home ownership, number of wage earners, net worth, investment horizon, and risk tolerance were consistently identified as significant factors for mutual fund investment behavior. Therefore, financial practitioners should consider personal, household, financial, and psychographical characteristics of their clients when work on the client’s investment planning. More research on various fund investment behaviors is needed to fully understand household investment decision making. Development of scientifically robust measurement of psychological variable such as financial risk tolerance is needed too.