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  5. Gender Differences in Financial Advice

American Economic Review

ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)

Gender Differences in Financial Advice

  • Tabea Bucher-Koenen
  • Andreas Hackethal
  • Johannes Koenen
  • Christine Laudenbach
American Economic Review (Forthcoming)

Abstract

Based on data gathered from 27,000 real-world meetings between financial advisors and clients of a large German bank, we show that advisors offer more self-serving advice to women, while men are more likely to receive sales fee rebates and less likely to be recommended expensive in-house multi-asset funds. Additional client and advisor surveys provide evidence consistent with statistical discrimination based on gender as a proxy for client financial sophistication, with female clients exhibiting lower financial literacy, confidence, and price sensitivity. Moreover, female advisors report less confidence in their own professional skills and engage in less discrimination than their male colleagues.

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