IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeborg/v209y2023icp423-449.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Switching from commissions on mutual funds to flat-fees: How are advisory clients affected?

Author

Listed:
  • Meyer, Steffen
  • Uhr, Charline
  • Loos, Benjamin
  • Hackethal, Andreas

Abstract

Using a field study at a German brokerage, we investigate advised individual investors’ behavior and outcomes after self-selecting into a flat-fee scheme (percentage of portfolio value) for mutual funds. In a difference-in-differences setting, we compare 699 switchers to propensity-score-matched advisory clients who remained in the commission-based scheme. Switchers increase their portfolio values, improve portfolio diversification, and increase their portfolio performance. They also demand more financial advice and follow more advisor recommendations. We argue that switchers attribute a higher quality to the unchanged advisory services.

Suggested Citation

  • Meyer, Steffen & Uhr, Charline & Loos, Benjamin & Hackethal, Andreas, 2023. "Switching from commissions on mutual funds to flat-fees: How are advisory clients affected?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 423-449.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:209:y:2023:i:c:p:423-449
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2023.03.015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268123000811
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jebo.2023.03.015?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. Neal M. Stoughton & Youchang Wu & Josef Zechner, 2011. "Intermediated Investment Management," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(3), pages 947-980, June.
    2. Daniel Dorn & Gur Huberman, 2005. "Talk and Action: What Individual Investors Say and What They Do," Review of Finance, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 437-481, December.
    3. Hackethal, Andreas & Haliassos, Michael & Jappelli, Tullio, 2012. "Financial advisors: A case of babysitters?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 509-524.
    4. Mark Egan, 2019. "Brokers versus Retail Investors: Conflicting Interests and Dominated Products," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 74(3), pages 1217-1260, June.
    5. Soman, Dilip, 2001. "Effects of Payment Mechanism on Spending Behavior: The Role of Rehearsal and Immediacy of Payments," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 27(4), pages 460-474, March.
    6. Briana Chang & Martin Szydlowski, 2020. "The Market for Conflicted Advice," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(2), pages 867-903, April.
    7. Mark Egan & Gregor Matvos & Amit Seru, 2022. "When Harry Fired Sally: The Double Standard in Punishing Misconduct," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 130(5), pages 1184-1248.
    8. Shawn Cole & Anna Paulson & Gauri Kartini Shastry, 2014. "Smart Money? The Effect of Education on Financial Outcomes," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(7), pages 2022-2051.
    9. Daniel Dorn & Gur Huberman & Paul Sengmueller, 2008. "Correlated Trading and Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(2), pages 885-920, April.
    10. Tabea Bucher-Koenen & Andreas Hackethal & Johannes Koenen & Christine Laudenbach, 2021. "Gender Differences in Financial Advice," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2021_273, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    11. Zoran Ivković & James Poterba & Scott Weisbenner, 2005. "Tax-Motivated Trading by Individual Investors," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(5), pages 1605-1630, December.
    12. Ivković, Zoran & Sialm, Clemens & Weisbenner, Scott, 2008. "Portfolio Concentration and the Performance of Individual Investors," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 43(3), pages 613-655, September.
    13. Roman Inderst & Marco Ottaviani, 2009. "Misselling through Agents," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(3), pages 883-908, June.
    14. Bolton, Patrick & Freixas, Xavier & Shapiro, Joel, 2007. "Conflicts of interest, information provision, and competition in the financial services industry," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 297-330, August.
    15. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    16. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean, 2000. "Trading Is Hazardous to Your Wealth: The Common Stock Investment Performance of Individual Investors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(2), pages 773-806, April.
    17. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean, 2001. "Boys will be Boys: Gender, Overconfidence, and Common Stock Investment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(1), pages 261-292.
    18. Inderst, Roman & Ottaviani, Marco, 2012. "How (not) to pay for advice: A framework for consumer financial protection," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(2), pages 393-411.
    19. Drazen Prelec & George Loewenstein, 1998. "The Red and the Black: Mental Accounting of Savings and Debt," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(1), pages 4-28.
    20. Heckman, J.J. & Hotz, V.J., 1988. "Choosing Among Alternative Nonexperimental Methods For Estimating The Impact Of Social Programs: The Case Of Manpower Training," University of Chicago - Economics Research Center 88-12, Chicago - Economics Research Center.
    21. Utpal Bhattacharya & Andreas Hackethal & Simon Kaesler & Benjamin Loos & Steffen Meyer, 2012. "Is Unbiased Financial Advice to Retail Investors Sufficient? Answers from a Large Field Study," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(4), pages 975-1032.
    22. Oscar Stolper & Andreas Walter, 2019. "Birds of a Feather: The Impact of Homophily on the Propensity to Follow Financial Advice," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(2), pages 524-563.
    23. Sendhil Mullainathan & Markus Noeth & Antoinette Schoar, 2012. "The Market for Financial Advice: An Audit Study," NBER Working Papers 17929, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. Roman Inderst & Marco Ottaviani, 2012. "Competition through Commissions and Kickbacks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(2), pages 780-809, April.
    25. Daniel Hoechle & Stefan Ruenzi & Nic Schaub & Markus Schmid, 2018. "Financial Advice and Bank Profits," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(11), pages 4447-4492.
    26. Juhani T. Linnainmaa & Brian T. Melzer & Alessandro Previtero, 2021. "The Misguided Beliefs of Financial Advisors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(2), pages 587-621, April.
    27. Lemmon, Michael & Roberts, Michael R., 2010. "The Response of Corporate Financing and Investment to Changes in the Supply of Credit," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(3), pages 555-587, June.
    28. Arkes, Hal R. & Blumer, Catherine, 1985. "The psychology of sunk cost," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 124-140, February.
    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. Sandhu, Harsimran & Deb, Soumya Guha, 2024. "Ethical dimensions of bank-distributed mutual funds," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 238(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. Meyer, Steffen & Urban, Linda & Ahlswede, Sophie, 2016. "Does feedback on personal investment success help?," SAFE Working Paper Series 157, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    2. Lu, Xiaomeng & Zhang, Yong & Zhang, Yixing & Wang, Lin, 2020. "Can investment advisors promote rational investment? Evidence from micro-data in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 251-263.
    3. Chalmers, John & Reuter, Jonathan, 2020. "Is conflicted investment advice better than no advice?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(2), pages 366-387.
    4. Daniel Hoechle & Stefan Ruenzi & Nic Schaub & Markus Schmid, 2017. "The Impact of Financial Advice on Trade Performance and Behavioral Biases," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 21(2), pages 871-910.
    5. Calcagno, Riccardo & Monticone, Chiara, 2015. "Financial literacy and the demand for financial advice," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 363-380.
    6. Daniel Hoechle & Stefan Ruenzi & Nic Schaub & Markus Schmid, 2018. "Financial Advice and Bank Profits," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(11), pages 4447-4492.
    7. Ziying Yang & Jie Gao & Du Yu, 2024. "Cognition ability, financial advice seeking, and investment performance: New evidence from China," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 24(1), pages 53-82, March.
    8. 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.
    9. Utz Weitzel & Michael Kirchler, 2022. "The Banker's Oath And Financial Advice," Working Papers 2022-13, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    10. Weitzel, Utz & Kirchler, Michael, 2023. "The Banker’s oath and financial advice," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    11. Cruciani, Caterina & Gardenal, Gloria & Rigoni, Ugo, 2021. "Trust-formation processes in financial advisors: A structural equation model," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 185-199.
    12. Hoechle, Daniel & Schmid, Markus & Zimmermann, Heinz, 2012. "Decomposing Performance," Working Papers on Finance 1216, University of St. Gallen, School of Finance, revised Nov 2015.
    13. 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.
    14. Utz Weitzel & Michael Kirchler, 2021. "The Banker's Oath And Financial Advice," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 21-032/IV, Tinbergen Institute.
    15. de Bruin, Boudewijn & Cherednychenko, Olha & Hermes, Niels & Kramer, Marc & Meyer, Marco, 2024. "Demand for financial advice: Evidence from a randomized choice experiment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    16. Meyer, Steffen & Uhr, Charline, 2022. "The Ulysses option: Smoking and delegation in individual investor decisions," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB).
    17. Meyer, Steffen & Urban, Linda & Ahlswede, Sophie, 2015. "Does a personalized feedback on investment success mitigate investment mistakes of private investors? Answers from large natural field experiment," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112988, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    18. Stephen G. Dimmock & William C. Gerken & Tyson Van Alfen, 2021. "Real Estate Shocks and Financial Advisor Misconduct," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(6), pages 3309-3346, December.
    19. Francisco Gomes & Michael Haliassos & Tarun Ramadorai, 2021. "Household Finance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 59(3), pages 919-1000, September.
    20. Uhr, Charline & Meyer, Steffen & Hackethal, Andreas, 2021. "Smoking hot portfolios? Trading behavior, investment biases, and self-control failure," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 73-95.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Household finance; Individual investor; Financial advice; Inducements; Consumer financial protection;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D18 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Protection
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation

    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:jeborg:v:209:y:2023:i:c:p:423-449. 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/jebo .

    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.