Tuesday, April 08, 2008

At Last, Buffett’s Key to Success - New York Times

Want to start a discussion that will sure to cause trouble? Here we go:

At Last, Buffett’s Key to Success - New York Times:
"Patience and good decision-making help set women apart here.”

As a result, women’s portfolios on average gain 1.4 percent more than men’s, according to a study cited by Ms. DiCosmo. Single women’s portfolios do 2.3 percent better than single men’s. The study, “Boys Will Be Boys: Gender, Overconfidence and Common Stock Investment,” was published in 2001 by Brad M. Barber, a finance professor at the University of California, Davis, and Terrance Odean, now a professor of banking and finance at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley (faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/odean/papers/gender/gender.html)."

1 comment:

Kirzner Fervor said...

Two things to note:
1. Only 8,000 women are in this study, I'm suspecting there is some selection bias in this study. Women who invest are probably smarter and more financially savvy than the average man in the study.
2. Men and women are more likely to invest in small cap value stocks than I had originally thought, especially since the S&P500 is more large cap and growth.
3. A more interesting study would be of professional money managers.