Investment Decision Making by Women: Dependence Vs. Sharing of Financial Responsibilities

The behavior of Women as an investor has been studied worldwide so as their role while taking investment decisions. Many studies highlighted that women are generally risk averse with a conservative attitude and they depend on others while taking investment decisions. Studies also highlighted the role of the husband and male members in the investment decision making by the women investors. On the contrary, there are few set of researchers which highlighted that rather than being dependent on others, women share financial responsibilities with others and take joint investment decisions. This study attempts to answer these questions with the empirical evidence in context of India. The objectives of the study were to identify the extent to which women investors depend on others while taking investment decisions and to examine whether they share financial responsibilities with others while taking investment decisions. 450 responses were collected with the help of a structured questionnaire. Women from the Delhi NCR region were selected using the purposive sampling method. The study highlighted that both husband and wife share responsibility with each other while taking investment decisions. The study also highlights who influences the investment decisions in the family. The study investigated the influence of women and their husbands/others when purchasing investment products such as Bank Deposits, 5 Year Tax Saving FDs, Real Estate, Precious Metals, Public Provident Fund (PPF), National Pension Scheme (NPS), Post Office Savings Schemes, Company Deposits, Debentures or Bonds, Mutual Funds, Pension Schemes, Life Insurance, Equity shares, and derivatives, among others. The study concluded that there are women who completely depend on their husbands or other when it comes to investment decisions, but the statement cannot be generalized as there are women who not only share financial responsibilities but take joint investment decisions.