Investment behavior of short-term versus long-term individual investors of PAN India - An empirical study

Abstract

Investment activity, followed by household and external savings, often plays a decisive role in strengthening the financial status of individual investors, as it contributes to further increases in wealth. This study analyzes the investors' investment motives and actions to find better investment strategies and to do a systematic review of the investment behavior available for both short- and long-term individual investors. The study is mainly focused on factors and priorities influencing investment decisions. The data were obtained using the questionnaire approach from 201 individual investors within the age group from 18 to 80 from different parts of India. Every individual investor's risk-tolerant score has been calculated on the basis of the investors' holistic behavior, namely, investors with high-risk appetite, investors with a moderate and low-risk appetite. Non-parametric tests are applied to evaluate the behavioral approach of investors that are differently correlated to these factors. T-test is used to distinguish between the population mean of short-term and long-term investors' risk-taking ability and priority of safeguarding the principal over return preference, rather than identified investment factors. As a result of the study, the factors influencing the investors' decisions were found: income level, market participation experience and risk-return proportions, rather than age, gender, risk-taking ability and investment priority. This study enhances the existing literature by analyzing income, risk-return proportion and investment experience factors that influence investment decisions.