Financial experts Terrance Odean and Brad M. Barber , both of the university's Graduate School of Management , found that men trade 45 percent more than women and earn annual net risk-adjusted returns that are 1.4 percent less than those earned by women.
Men simply do so more often.
The study used a discount brokerage firm's data on the common-stock investments of 37,664 households from February 1991 through January 1997. The researchers found that single men trade 67 percent more than single women and earn annual net risk-adjusted returns that are 2.3 percent less than those earned by single women. The difference in annual net risk-adjusted returns realized by married men and women is only 1.2 percent. Among a sample of one third of the total accounts studied, 47.8 percent of women reported having good or extensive investment experience while 62. 5 percent of men reported the same level of experience.