We use cookies on this site to enhance your experience.
By selecting “Accept” and continuing to use this website, you consent to the use of cookies.
The Lazaridis School of Business and Economics and the MS2Discovery Interdisciplinary Research Institute presents:
Dan Bernhardt, University of Illinois & University of Warwick
Dan Bernhardt is the IBE Distinguished Professor of Economics and Finance at the University of Illinois and a Professor at the University of Warwick. He has a PhD in Economics from Carnegie Mellon University. Bernhardt's research is focused on industrial organization, finance, and political economy.
Using survey and administrative data, we study followers of H&L, a massively popular Chilean pension advisor, establishing that financial literacy is not a panacea for poor retirement decision-making. We find that followers are wealthy, well-educated and truly financially sophisticated. Indeed, exposure to H&L increases financial sophistication and likelihood of additional voluntary savings. Nonetheless, followers are badly hurt by H&L’s advice, earning mean annual returns that are 1.4-1.9% below all buy-and-hold strategies, and they are aware of this underperformance. Moreover, performance does not materially affect renewal rates, and 77% renew. Perversely, reasons given for following are: high returns, loss minimization and trust.
Further details are at https://researchcentres.wlu.ca/ms2discovery-interdisciplinary-research-institute/events.html