Abstract

Stokvels (globally known as credit unions) as an investment alternative has been one of the most profitable informal investment products. Yet, it is not recognised as a formal investment product due to the large risk attached to its informal investment process. For this reason, it is pertinent to analyse the propensity to take risk of investors who choose to invest in stokvels compared to other investment products. Therefore, to profile stock investors, this paper aimed to analyse the risk tolerance levels of investors investing in stokvels based on their demographical factors. In terms of the demographics of the investors, the results of this study were similar to those of previous studies indicating a higher risk tolerance level for male investors, younger individual investors and those in high-income brackets. In aggregate, it was found that the majority of participants were willing to take average financial and investment risk with the expectation of earning average returns, therefore can be classified as risk-averse or conservative. Furthermore, it was found that investors investing in stokvels had the highest propensity to take on financial risk compared to all other investment product choices, especially those investing in government bonds. This will aid in the creation of investment offerings that investment companies offer to stokvel members, in range with their risk tolerance levels and possible investment objectives. This will be a step in the right direction of making stokvels safer for members and more profitable for investment companies.

摘要

Stokvels（全球称为信用合作社）作为一种投资选择一直是最有利可图的非正规投资产品之一。然而，由于其非正式投资过程带来的巨大风险，它并未被视为正式投资产品。因此，与其他投资产品相比，有必要分析选择投资 stokvels 的投资者的风险倾向。因此，为了分析股票投资者，本文旨在根据人口统计因素分析投资斯托克维尔的投资者的风险承受能力。在投资者的人口统计方面，本研究的结果与之前的研究结果相似，表明男性投资者、年轻的个人投资者和高收入阶层的风险承受能力水平更高。合计，结果表明，大多数参与者愿意承担平均金融和投资风险，期望获得平均回报，因此可以归类为风险厌恶或保守。此外，研究发现，与所有其他投资产品选择相比，尤其是那些投资于政府债券的投资者，投资 stokvels 的投资者承担金融风险的倾向最高。这将有助于创建投资公司向 stokvel 成员提供的投资产品，其范围与他们的风险承受能力和可能的投资目标相符。这将是朝着正确方向迈出的一步，使会员更安全，投资公司更有利可图。