Influence of Demographic Factors on Individual’s Investment Decisions in WA Municipality, the Upper West Region of Ghana

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DOI: 10.21522/TIJMG.2015.05.02.Art020

Authors : Nestor Naabulee Nasage

Abstract:

"Investment is the obligation of a person's resources to earn income in the form of benefits, pensions, dividends, bonuses, capital appreciation, stock purchase, obligations, and savings certificates in the post office and policies, all of which are certainly investments in the financial sense”. Among other elements, investor behavior is also influenced by demographic characteristics; including age, sex, marital status, experience, and knowledge of financial management, level of income and educational level. The case study analysis assesses two main areas of concern. The qualitative and quantitative research methods made use of questionnaires that constituted data collection tools. Both primary and secondary data constituted the data sources for this study.  A sample of 300 investors in the municipality of WA was selected using convenience sampling where snow balling was considered. The data collected were quantified using descriptive statistical tables. The SPSS version 25 software was also used in the analysis. The study proved that demographic factors affect investment decisions. It also concluded that, the educational level of respondents was a weak indicator of investment decisions and therefore, does not determine the investment decision for individual investors. The study concluded that the most common investment methods investors invest in are fixed deposits in banks and life insurance policies. It is recommended that individual investors take into account the asymmetry of information, which is the largest contributor to the investor's indifference that leads to investment decisions.

Keywords: Influence, Demographic Factors, Investment Decisions.

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