Abstract: In the mature capital market, the main participants in the market are institutional investors, while in the Chinese capital market, the main investors are individual investors. Therefore, how the characteristics of individual investors affect their investment performance is a problem worth studying in the Chinese context. However, due to the lack of investment data of individual investors in China, relevant research has not been fully developed. By matching up a set of data about investors' personal characteristics and investment outcome in the Peer-to-Peer lending, investment success rate, investment default rate and investment yield rate are used to reflect the performance of Peer-to-Peer lending investment, and the education premium in financial investment of individual investors and the gender heterogeneity of education premium are tested. It is found that there is a gender differences and education premium in Peer-to-Peer lending investment, male dominant on the success rate of investment and investment yields, female dominant on the default risk control. Education premium effect is embodied in three aspects:the education improves the success rate of investment, reduces default rates investments and increases investment yields. A further test showes that there is a gender differences in education premium, education further improved the female's ability of default risk control, further improved the male's ability of grasping on the investment opportunities and obtaining investment yields, which means that the education improved the investment performance at whole, as well as expandes the initial gender differences. These conclusions have implications for understanding the role of education in financial investment and its heterogeneity.

Key words: education premium, gender heterogeneity, peer-to-peer lending investment