ÖVERKONFIDENS, RISK OCH PENGAR : En studie om överkonfidens i finansiell kunskap bland unga vuxna studenter i Sverige.

Sammanfattning

As financial services have become increasingly digitalized and accessible, young adults face a growing number of financial decisions related to investments, savings, and consumer credit. Previous research within behavioral finance has shown that psychological factors particularly overconfidence can influence individuals' financial decision making and risk-taking behaviors. However prior research has mainly focused on broader populations while the financial behavior of young adult student in a Swedish context has received limited attention. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine the relationship between overconfidence in financial knowledge and financial risk-taking among young adult students in Sweden. The study also examines the relationship between gender and overconfidence in financial knowledge. Financial risk-taking is operationalized through investment-related risk taking in the form of stock ownership and debt-related risk taking in the form of consumer credit usage. The study is based on behaviors finance theory as well as theories concerning overconfidence, prospect theory and financial literacy. The study applies a quantitative research approach where data was collected through a survey targeting young adult students in Sweden. The data was analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation test and regression analyses with robust standard errors. The study also includes robustness tests using alternative operationalizations of overconfidence. The results show that the relationship between overconfidence and financial risk-taking varies depending on the type of financial behavior examined. The study finds no statistically significant relationship between overconfidence and consumer credit usage, while the results indicate a positive relationship between overconfidence and stock ownership. The findings also show that objective financial knowledge has a stronger relationship with stock ownership than overconfidence. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that the relationship between gender and overconfidence depends on how overconfidence is operationalized. The study contributes to previous research by demonstrating that the relationship between overconfidence and financial risk taking is not unambiguous but rather depends on how the concepts are defined and measured. The findings also contribute to a greater understanding of how psychological and knowledge-related factors influence young adults' financial behavior in an increasingly complex and digitalized financial environment.