Participation in risky asset markets and propensity for financial planning: a missing link?

This study examines whether the association between financial literacy and participation in risky asset markets is robust to variation on a more innate level: the propensity for financial planning. I find that individuals' propensity for financial planning is strongly positively related to stock market participation as well as membership in a voluntary workplace retirement savings scheme. This result holds when controlling for financial literacy and a range of demographic and control variables in a multivariate regression setting. Importantly, the positive association between financial literacy and risky asset market participation also persists, suggesting that these two variables operate through separate channels.