Using the analytic hierarchy process to select investment in a heterogenous environment

The purpose of this paper is to apply the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) model in selecting an investment. The selection process takes into account the following factors: the investors' characteristics, the investments' characteristics and the investment alternatives. The set of investors' characteristics consists of: wealth, experience, age and the concept of utility functions. When we speak of the investments' characteristics we are referring to such items as: liquidity, taxability, minimum requirement, transaction cost and yield or rate of return. The other set of characteristics are the investment alternatives which include: the Money Market Fund, Government and Municipal Bond Fund, Balanced Fund, Corporate Bond Fund, Blue Chip Stock Fund. In terms of the AHP method, this study does indicate that AHP can add a new perspective to the analysis of portfolio selection and certainly provides researchers an alternative mechanism to the expected utility maximization approach.