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Article Title:
Empirical Assessment of Socioeconomic Determinants of Portfolio Investment Decisions of Civil Servants in Nigeria
by Andrew O Agbada and Deborah O. Odejimi

Abstract:
Individual's financial decisions are of paramount importance for both households and the Economy in general. This paper is aimed at investigating and adjudging possible reasons for the impoverished state of most retired Civil servants in Nigeria and in so doing it explores how socio-economic variables such as Gender, Age, Years of Education, Net Worth (Income) and Savings affect Portfolio Investment decisions of civil servants in Nigeria, strategically using Edo State which is largely a civil service dominated State as our area of study. Questionnaires were randomly administered to a sample of civil servants in various Ministries and Government agencies and data obtained were analyzed first by percentages and empirically by Multiple Regression strategies. The findings were robust and indicate generally that very little attention is paid by our study population to investing on various portfolios assets available prominently for either lack of Savings, financial education or other economic exigencies. The empirical estimation revealed that Gender, and Savings in particular impacted positively on Portfolio investment decisions. It is also observed that individuals held homogenous assets in their portfolios, indicating lack of portfolio diversification which appeared to be due to either ignorance or difficulties of having easy access to financial assets such as fixed interest securities. Though, the study focused on Nigerian Civil servants, it has relevance and significance for all fixed income workers both in the public and private sectors of global economy. It also has implications for employers of labour, government agencies and public policies and its impact on nations? GDP is tremendous.

Keywords: socio-economic determinants, Portfolio investment decision, Investor behaviour, Civil servants, Nigeria.

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