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  • Thanks for the link Hank. Seems to have a lot of good investment information on the site.
  • edited July 2012
    Hi Hank,

    Both articles are areas we all deal with and these areas have been discussed at FA and here, to the benefit, hopefully; of all. Thank you for the articles links.
    One note from the 1st article and is noted again in the 2nd article:

    "You probably have the urge to check up on your investments everyday, maybe even every few hours, STOP! Just stop checking constantly, it will not benefit your portfolio in anyway, it may just cause more anxiety. This is even more important if you own individual stocks or mutual funds in any kind of personal account or retirement account. Checking these too often can cause you to panic and you can make a snap reaction trade. Just stick to your plan and ignore everyday movements."

    This is a very personal area for everyone and not all will react or deal with the situation in the same way. I will agree that peeking too often will not benefit many and can cause problems with overthinking one's investment choices.
    This all relates to perhaps the most cruial area of investing, in my opinion; is that one better know who they are and how they react and deal with events.
    This is no small task and may take many years of discovery; and in the end, perfection is still a goal, eh?
    Any number of personal habits or reactions may be measured regularlly. What are one's habits at the grocery store and whether one sticks to the list or buys on impulse, too. Does one always need the newest model of this or that; or is one willing and patient enough to wail another year when the price drop has taken place.

    More of the article: "Just stop checking constantly, it will not benefit your portfolio in anyway..... Just stick to your plan and ignore everyday movements."

    >>>>> Monitoring the market movements will benefit a portfolio; but an emotional plan must be in place.

    We quickly review each market business day in various sectors and note changes against any of our holdings. One such area is EM bonds and $US. In spite of a strong dollar, EM bond funds are doing nicely this year. This should cause one to ask why. Is a particular EM bond fund more linked to dollar denomination value, or are there other factors, too? Perhaps it is pure positive cash flows to this area. It does not require a change in one's holdings, but should be a note for future reference if the relationship changes.
    At the very least, frequent monitoring of markets and comparing against one's holdings and the reactions is building an internal, mental data base of relationships that will be of benefit at some other point in time for making better judgments.

    Bill Gross surely is smarter than anyone at this house, and yet his removal of the Pimco Total Return fund from too much exposure to U.S. Treasuries puzzled me in 2011. We held exposure to this area and his decision did not affect our choices to maintain our positions. The thought did cross our minds that perhaps we should follow his lead, when the information was publically released; but we did not. Call us lucky, or whatever.

    Lastly, I will repeat that I believe viewing market data and one's funds reactions on a daily or at least weekly basis is for the establishment of mental data that should serve on well going forward. This also applies to other funds that one may choose to monitor for future inclusion in a portfolio. One may develop an intuition with enough retained views and knowledge. One will be more comfortable with a decision and not have that unknown feeling in the tummy.
    An example might be that one enjoys outdoor target practice with a rifle and this person is also a deer hunter in MI. The usual I observe (I am not a hunter) is that everyone and his brother spends two weeks before the hunting season opens and plows through boxes of ammo to get a feel for the gun and themselves who have been strangers for the past 50 weeks. Yet, if they practiced out of doors every other week, all year long; in all types of weather conditions, they would be as one with their rifle in any and all conditions and would find few surprises about their accuracy skills when the actual hunt arrived.
    Our house does not trade funds often; but we are always taking mental investment practice when the markets may indicate investing season is changing. And yes, there are the ones that got away, too; as well as some poor shots.

    Regards,
    Catch
  • I check my portfolio most days at the end of the day. For longer mutual fund positions, it's more out of curiosity since I don't intend to touc them. However, if I have an active short term trade on in a stock or ETF, I will monitor those positions more than once per day.
  • I seldom look at mine, except to invest cash, re-allocate, or to make a tactical bet. This is probably because I spend all my time looking at client accounts. This is probably good, since I am very aggressively allocated. Not looking at it much allows me to ignore the daily, weekly and monthly ups and downs.

    Often times the best thing to do is nothing at all. But that is difficult when you watch your account value every day and listen to the so-called experts on cnbc, etc.
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