A UQ study has found that mum-and-dad investors consider market returns and the performance of the fund — relative to other similar investment options.
Through studying the pattern of investment flow into funds in the United States, PhD student Jacquelyn Humphrey of the UQ Business School found that this behaviour differed greatly to institutional investors who do not consider raw fund performance or market performance.
Ms Humphrey said as an aggregate level study, the findings extended previous research which had only looked at either investment flow to specific funds, or only market-wide factors.
"The findings provide more insight into how to market particular funds," she said.
"From a marketing perspective, funds wanting to attract retail investors should provide comparative information between the performance of their fund and other similar type of funds — for example, aggressive growth funds — as well as information on how well the overall market is doing.
"However, my findings suggest that institutional investors are very different and have more sophisticated information requirements."
"I am currently working on an Australian study as an aggregate level study has not been performed in Australia to date.”
PhD students at the UQ Business School are eligible for up to $30,000 per year in addition to the Australian Postgraduate Award of $20,000.
Media: Cathy Stacey (07 3365 6179).
