A proposed value function for private clients

This paper aims to check if the value function identifi ed by Kahneman and Tversky can also be considered valid for private investors. To this purpose, we selected two investors samples, «private» and «retail», and created a questionnaire for testing for: a) the tendency to preserve status quo; b) the perception of gains and losses, and c) the existence of mental accounts. Based on the results obtained we demonstrated that private investors perceive changes in wealth differently from retail investors. We tested that the main aim for private investors is to maintain the initial level of high wealth (status quo) and improve it over the time while for retail investors the priority is to increase their low initial level of wealth in every economic scenario. So the results obtained enable us to identify and describe a value function for private clients, a new shape of value function which expresses in the best possible way private clients» fi nancial behaviour.