April 2021

IZA DP No. 14301: Financial Advice and Household Financial Portfolios

published in: Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 2025, 87 (2), 382-413.

We investigate the role of financial advice in shaping the composition of household portfolios in Great Britain. Advice is associated with a reallocation of wealth away from real estate and towards bonds and stocks, especially when households seek financial advice "for investments". Having a consultation with a stockbroker has a particularly large effect on the portfolio share in stocks. However, even free financial advice has a positive effect on the shares in bonds and stocks, compared to not receiving advice. Finally, we find a positive association between alternative measures of portfolio risk and the composition of the portfolio, whilst accounting for financial advice.