A note on financial literacy among literate people and their participation in different securities market segments

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the relationship between perceived and actual financial literacy, among generally literate people, pertaining to market participation and market participation intensity. It examines such market participation in both the traditional segments of the financial markets and the new segments [cryptocurrencies, structured retail products (SRPs) and crowdfunding]. Design/methodology/approach The data are from a survey conducted in 2020 by the Portuguese Securities Commission in cooperation with 12 Portuguese universities. The final sample comprises 2,054 respondents. The basic and advanced financial literacy indexes were calculated following van Rooij et al. (2011). This paper uses probit regressions and ordinary least squares regressions with robust errors. Findings This study shows that even highly literate people are influenced by their perceived financial knowledge and its bias toward their actual skills. However, overconfidence has no significant association with securities market participation but rather is marginally correlated with the intensity of such participation. Underconfidence is negatively related to both. Moreover, the relationship between advanced financial literacy and overconfidence pertaining to participation in more complex market segments depends on the product type. Specifically, overconfidence has a positive relationship with participation in cryptocurrencies and SRPs but not with crowdfunding. Research limitations/implications The securities market regulators should take note that participation in some complex market segments, even among literate people, is associated with investor overconfidence. Given that effective financial literacy correlates with participation in some more complex financial market segments and not others, the implication for future research is that the performance of individual investors may differ across these different segments. Additionally, this paper argues that the metrics used to assess financial literacy must take cognizance of the topics required to participate in the new market segments of financial markets. Originality/value This paper augments this stream of literature in several respects. First, it focuses on highly educated and trained people rather than the general population. Second, while the previous literature measures market participation using a simple dummy to identify respondents who invest in stocks, this paper also measures the intensity of participation. In addition, this study investigates the financial literacy effect from participation in the more complex segments of the securities markets, as in the case of cryptocurrencies and SRPs.