IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v60y2024ics1544612323012709.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does ChatGPT provide better advice than robo-advisors?

Author

Listed:
  • Oehler, Andreas
  • Horn, Matthias

Abstract

We develop three investor profiles with different risk attitudes and consult ChatGPT and 17 robo-advisors to recommend an investment portfolio. We compare the recommendations with a benchmark derived from academic literature. ChatGPT's recommendations align with the three investor profiles and the benchmark. In contrast, only three out of the 17 robo-advisors come close to meeting the benchmark for all three investor profiles. Three robo-advisors fail to meet the benchmark for all investor profiles. Our findings reveal that ChatGPT provides better financial advice for one-time investments than robo-advisors. A policy implication is to clearly disclose that independent sophisticated chatbots can be recommended as a trustworthy source of information for retail investors.

Suggested Citation

  • Oehler, Andreas & Horn, Matthias, 2024. "Does ChatGPT provide better advice than robo-advisors?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:60:y:2024:i:c:s1544612323012709
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2023.104898
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612323012709
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2023.104898?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kenneth R. French, 2008. "Presidential Address: The Cost of Active Investing," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(4), pages 1537-1573, August.
    2. Mehra, Rajnish & Prescott, Edward C., 1985. "The equity premium: A puzzle," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 145-161, March.
    3. Pawe{l} Niszczota & Sami Abbas, 2023. "GPT has become financially literate: Insights from financial literacy tests of GPT and a preliminary test of how people use it as a source of advice," Papers 2309.00649, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2024.
    4. Jacobs, Heiko & Müller, Sebastian & Weber, Martin, 2014. "How should individual investors diversify? An empirical evaluation of alternative asset allocation policies," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 62-85.
    5. Jeremy J. Siegel & Richard H. Thaler, 1997. "Anomalies: The Equity Premium Puzzle," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 191-200, Winter.
    6. Isaia, Eleonora & Oggero, Noemi, 2022. "The potential use of robo-advisors among the young generation: Evidence from Italy," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    7. Oscar A. Stolper & Andreas Walter, 2017. "Financial literacy, financial advice, and financial behavior," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(5), pages 581-643, July.
    8. Alex Kim & Maximilian Muhn & Valeri Nikolaev, 2023. "Bloated Disclosures: Can ChatGPT Help Investors Process Information?," Papers 2306.10224, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2024.
    9. Felix Holzmeister & Martin Holmén & Michael Kirchler & Matthias Stefan & Erik Wengström, 2023. "Delegation Decisions in Finance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(8), pages 4828-4844, August.
    10. Ulrike Malmendier, 2021. "Experience Effects in Finance: Foundations, Applications, and Future Directions [X-capm: an extrapolative capital asset pricing model]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 25(5), pages 1339-1363.
    11. Back, Camila & Morana, Stefan & Spann, Martin, 2023. "When do robo-advisors make us better investors? The impact of social design elements on investor behavior," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    12. Mohammed, Kamel Si & Obeid, Hassan & Oueslati, Karim & Kaabia, Olfa, 2023. "Investor sentiments, economic policy uncertainty, US interest rates, and financial assets: Examining their interdependence over time," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    13. Roman Inderst & Marco Ottaviani, 2009. "Misselling through Agents," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(3), pages 883-908, June.
    14. Francesco D’Acunto & Nagpurnanand Prabhala & Alberto G Rossi, 2019. "The Promises and Pitfalls of Robo-Advising," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 1983-2020.
    15. Craig R. Fox & Amos Tversky, 1995. "Ambiguity Aversion and Comparative Ignorance," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(3), pages 585-603.
    16. Oehler, Andreas & Horn, Matthias & Wendt, Stefan, 2017. "Brexit: Short-term stock price effects and the impact of firm-level internationalization," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 175-181.
    17. Matthias Horn & Andreas Oehler, 2020. "Automated portfolio rebalancing: Automatic erosion of investment performance?," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(6), pages 489-505, October.
    18. James J. Choi, 2022. "Popular Personal Financial Advice versus the Professors," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 36(4), pages 167-192, Fall.
    19. Dowling, Michael & Lucey, Brian, 2023. "ChatGPT for (Finance) research: The Bananarama Conjecture," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    20. Stephen Foerster & Juhani T. Linnainmaa & Brian T. Melzer & Alessandro Previtero, 2017. "Retail Financial Advice: Does One Size Fit All?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(4), pages 1441-1482, August.
    21. Chew, Soo Hong & Sagi, Jacob S., 2008. "Small worlds: Modeling attitudes toward sources of uncertainty," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 139(1), pages 1-24, March.
    22. Andreas Oehler & Matthias Horn & Stefan Wendt, 2022. "Investor Characteristics and their Impact on the Decision to use a Robo-advisor," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 62(1), pages 91-125, October.
    23. Ulrike Malmendier & Stefan Nagel, 2011. "Depression Babies: Do Macroeconomic Experiences Affect Risk Taking?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(1), pages 373-416.
    24. Ulrike Malmendier, 2021. "Experience Effects in Finance: Foundations, Applications, and Future Directions," NBER Working Papers 29074, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    25. Eugene F. Fama & Kenneth R. French, 2010. "Luck versus Skill in the Cross‐Section of Mutual Fund Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1915-1947, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Minh Tam Tammy Schlosky & Serkan Karadas & Sterling Raskie, 2024. "ChatGPT, Help! I Am in Financial Trouble," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-39, June.
    2. Ko, Hyungjin & Lee, Jaewook, 2024. "Can ChatGPT improve investment decisions? From a portfolio management perspective," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    3. Cardillo, Giovanni & Chiappini, Helen, 2024. "Robo-advisors: A systematic literature review," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PA).
    4. Beckmann, Lars & Hark, Paul F., 2024. "ChatGPT and the banking business: Insights from the US stock market on potential implications for banks," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Guiso, Luigi & Sodini, Paolo, 2013. "Household Finance: An Emerging Field," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1397-1532, Elsevier.
    2. Bender, Svetlana & Choi, James J. & Dyson, Danielle & Robertson, Adriana Z., 2022. "Millionaires speak: What drives their personal investment decisions?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(1), pages 305-330.
    3. Alexia GAUDEUL & Caterina GIANNETTI, 2023. "Trade-offs in the design of financial algorithms," Discussion Papers 2023/288, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    4. Cardillo, Giovanni & Chiappini, Helen, 2024. "Robo-advisors: A systematic literature review," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PA).
    5. Borisova, Ekaterina & Gründler, Klaus & Hackenberger, Armin & Harter, Anina & Potrafke, Niklas & Schoors, Koen, 2023. "Crisis experience and the deep roots of COVID-19 vaccination preferences," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    6. Felix Holzmeister & Martin Holmén & Michael Kirchler & Matthias Stefan & Erik Wengström, 2023. "Delegation Decisions in Finance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(8), pages 4828-4844, August.
    7. Oehler, Andreas & Wanger, Hans Philipp, 2020. "Household portfolio optimization with XTFs? An empirical study using the SHS-base," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    8. Luo, Deming & Yao, Zhongwei & Zhu, Yanjian, 2022. "Bubble-crash experience and investment styles of mutual fund managers," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    9. Chen, Jie & Lasfer, Meziane & Song, Wei & Zhou, Si, 2021. "Recession managers and mutual fund performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    10. James J. Choi & Adriana Z. Robertson, 2020. "What Matters to Individual Investors? Evidence from the Horse's Mouth," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(4), pages 1965-2020, August.
    11. Barber, Brad M. & Odean, Terrance, 2013. "The Behavior of Individual Investors," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1533-1570, Elsevier.
    12. Isaia, Eleonora & Oggero, Noemi, 2022. "The potential use of robo-advisors among the young generation: Evidence from Italy," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    13. Happel, Jonas & Karabulut, Yigitcan & Schäfer, Larissa & Tüzel, Şelale, 2024. "Shattered housing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    14. Niszczota, Paweł & Abbas, Sami, 2023. "GPT has become financially literate: Insights from financial literacy tests of GPT and a preliminary test of how people use it as a source of advice," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PA).
    15. Holzmeister, Felix & Holmén, Martin & Kirchler, Michael & Stefan, Matthias & Wengström, Erik, 2019. "Delegated Decision-Making in Finance," OSF Preprints 3umdf, Center for Open Science.
    16. Hermansson, Cecilia & Song, Han-Suck, 2016. "Financial advisory services meetings and their impact on saving behavior – A difference-in-difference analysis," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 131-139.
    17. Francesco Bogliacino & Cristiano Codagnone & Frans Folkvord & Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva, 2023. "The impact of labour market shocks on mental health: evidence from the Covid-19 first wave," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 40(3), pages 899-930, October.
    18. Ugo Panizza, 2015. "Billions on the Sidewalk: Improving Savings by Reducing Investment Mistakes," IHEID Working Papers 18-2015, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.
    19. Andreas Oehler & Matthias Horn & Stefan Wendt, 2022. "Investor Characteristics and their Impact on the Decision to use a Robo-advisor," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 62(1), pages 91-125, October.
    20. Bianchi, Milo & Liu, Zhengkai & Wang, Gang, 2022. "Are We Becoming Greener? Life-time Experiences and Responsible Investment," TSE Working Papers 22-1382, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ChatGPT; Robo-advisor; Fintech; Portfolio management; Financial advice;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C45 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Neural Networks and Related Topics
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D80 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - General
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • G50 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:60:y:2024:i:c:s1544612323012709. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.