Do Swedish private bankers have a limited perspective?

Sammanfattning: Introduction: Within the private economy individuals are today accepting an increased individual responsibility for retirement funds and other economic challenges. This is due to the decreased confidence in government programs and that the increased life expectancy raises the risk to outlive the own life savings. The shift from state run security systems to more private responsibility could be spotted in Sweden as well, where one important part of the private economy, the saving system for retirement, has been changed. The pension plan met critics when it was proposed and implemented, especially for the part where some of the responsibility relies on the individual. It was discussed that this huge responsibility might be larger then what many individuals would be able to handle. These factors have increased the importance of successes in the individuals own saving plans. To enhance the chances of a certain level of success, individuals turn to private bankers to plan their wealth and savings. The position of these private bankers and their performance has amplified more then ever before. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to describe: if Swedish private bankers look on enough features of an investor to be able to prescribe the appropriate portfolio for the investor? Methodology: A qualitative research has been used since the purpose and the information gathered demanded it. Cases where the authors created four fictitious investors was sent out by electronic mail and the private bankers where asked to construct suitable portfolios to each investor. The cases were sent out to ten different private bakers, however only two replied within the deadline. The authors have strived to keep high reliability and validity in the paper; however the small response rate lowers the reliability. Conclusion: The qualitative research found that Swedish private bankers look on enough features on a client to be able to prescribe an appropriate portfolio for the investor. However the Private bankers’ main focus seems to be time horizon and risk profile of the investor.