Gender Differences in Perceived and Real Knowledge of Financial Investments

The purpose of this study was to compare men and women on two concepts, self-perceived knowledge or what one thinks one knows about some topic and real or actual knowledge of that topic. A survey of 457 students showed that the men (n= 234) claimed to know more about financial investments than the women (n= 223) and also scored higher than the women on a test of real investment knowledge. About the same proportions of both sexes reported current ownership of savings accounts, stocks, and bonds, but men reported more plans to own stocks and bonds than women.