The process of investment requires investors to take various types of decisions and the quality of those decisions determines the outcomes of the investment process. Standard finance theories and behavioural finance theories present different views on investment decision making based on the concept of rationality. Behavioural finance theories indicate that investors fail to perform in a completely rational manner when making investment decisions due to various biases. The objective of the study is to identify the behavioural finance based factors influence the investment decisions of household investors in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. The necessary data for the study were collected from 1810 household investors in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka and the sample respondents were selected under Proportionate stratified random sampling method. The analytical tools of exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to analyze the data. The current study concluded that Representativeness bias, Overconfidence bias, Availability Bias, Loss Aversion bias, Regret Aversion bias and Herding influence the investment decisions of household investors.

Investment involves commitment of money with the expectation of earning additional return. Investment performance generally indicates the outcome of an investment programme and it depends on several factors. When making investment different type of investors behave in different manner. Thus it is important to examine the influence of demographic factors of investors on investment performance. The objective of the study is to investigate the influence of demographic factors on the investment performance of household investors in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. The respondents of the study were 1810 household investors in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, who were selected under proportionate stratified random sampling technique. The collected data were analyzed with the support of analytical tools of independent t -test and one way ANOVA test. The results of the study reveal that gender, age, educational qualification, occupation and income of investors influence the investment performance whereas marital status of investors has no influence on investment performance. Based on the findings it is recommended to conduct investment training and awareness programme and to design new financial products and services which are particularly appropriate to specific segment of investors.