ROLE OF AGE IN INVESTMENT DECISIONS Shruti Maheshwari 1 , Dr. Manish Mittal 2 , & Anurag Maheshwari 3 1 Research Scholar, Banasthali Vidhyapith, 2 Professor, Acropolis Faculty of Management and Research, Indore 3 Trade Sales Manager, Indusind Bank ABSTRACT Individuals project various biases in their investment decisions. It may vary from emotional to cognitive biases. Amongst many demographic factors age is analyzed in the present study. The objective is to observe influence of age on behavioral biases which later will affect investment decision. Investors across various cities of India were selected as sample respondents. Data was collected using structured questionnaire. The study applied chi-square and kruskal wallis test to analyze the influence of age on decisions like expected return, portfolio size, investment objective, investment avenues etc. The study concluded that investors across various age groups vary in their investment decisions. Decisions are affected by cognitive ability of an individual and risk tolerance level. Also responsibilities, capital base and income levels vary across various age categories. All these forces play a crucial role in financial decision making. Key words: Age, behavioral biase, investment decision, chi square, demographics 1 INTRODUCTION Individuals often have to take certain decisions. These decisions may be big or small. Some decisions are easy and straight forward while others are complicated and require detailed analysis and multi-step approach to make a decision. An area of study known as “cognitive psychology” can be referred to understand how people make a choice. What factors influences their decisions and several heuristics in the process of decision making. Decisions are integral part of everyone’s life. The process of making a decision is a complex mechanism of human thinking. It involves a structural procedure and gets affected by various factors and course of action. Some individual differences may also affect the decision. Age is one of such difference that is being long studied in various disciplines. Evidence suggests that age declines an individual’s cognitive abilities. Working memory, speed of processing and executive functioning begins to decline in mid-20s and advances into 70s. The three strategies used by individuals while taking a decision as identified by researchers are cognitive, heuristics and biases. The use of these strategies also gets affected by decision maker’s age. Old adults are more likely to use heuristics and biases than young adults. Age related changes in decision making seems to get affected by the environment in which decision is made, personal relevance of a decision and experience with the decision domain. Traditional theory of finance states that investor’s make decisions rationally and always follow sound logics while taking a decision. But behavioral scientist proclaims that decisions are made using thumb rules and shortcuts. There is no rational thinking guiding an individual’s decision