Financial Literacy, Education, and Investment Decisions of Italian Households

Financial decisions are one of the most important decisions that a family is against off. The purpose of this study is to understand the influence of financial literacy and education on the households’ stock investment choices. Using the cross-sectional Survey of Household Income and Wealth 2020 addressed by the bank of Italy. An empirical model was studied with probit regressions that capture the probability of participation in the stock market, the characteristics associated with the choice to own shares were analyzed. The data show that an important portion of households have a poor financial knowledge and just a few of Italian households invest in stocks or mutual funds. Through the probit models developed it is possible to estimate with an acceptable degree of accuracy whether a household has made the decision to enter the equity markets. It has been shown that possession of a college degree, strong financial literacy, having a degree on economic or statistic positively and having access to internet are correlated with the ownership of stocks or mutual funds.