How often to check fund value?

enthusiasticsaver

Inspired by the thread on equities taking a "nose dive" started today I just wondered how often investors check their investment fund value? Personally as I have only just started investing I am checking fairly regularly, once or twice a week with the resolve not to panic over the inevitable ups and downs. How often do more experienced investors check, assuming mainly passive investments?

Lokolo

Depends what you mean by check.... I download fund prices daily into a local database which then displays in my finance spreadsheet.... so whenever I open it I have a look at my return!

le_loup

[QUOTE=enthusiasticsaver;67934116I_just_wondered_how_often_investors_check_their_investment_fund_value?[/QUOTE]
Too often.
Even more difficult with shares as they change a bit more frequently than the once-a-day of funds.

kidmugsy

Twice a year. They are long term investments not current accounts.

masonic

I only check when I'm deciding where to allocate new money, which tends to be every 1-3 months. That's probably more frequently than is necessary, but it's a convenient excuse.

AlanP_2

I'm with the OP as I am also a recent investor so every couple of days I have a quick peek.

BrockStoker

I enjoy checking on how my funds are doing so I check every day without fail. That might be viewed as pointless or even perhaps harmful, but I'm new to this, and seeing what my funds are doing leads me to ask questions and learn in the process. I understand that in the great scheme of things a day makes little or no difference, and I suspect the frequency of my checks will go down over time as I gain more experience.

MarkBargain

I remember the days about 15 years ago where I got statements in the post twice a year. As the info is now only a click and password entry away, I check my funds most days online.

TrustyOven

I check mine every day and update my spreadsheet and investment portfolio in my finance application.

In the past few months/years there was another similar thread. Someone pointed out that one benefit of checking every day is to be able to see that investments are volatile, and sortof trains you to ignore the noise.

So you begin to see that a 2% drop is not unusual etc and should not lead to panicky selling of your investments.

Ryan_Futuristics

Bear in mind most investors do considerably worse than the funds they invest in ... (And if that sounds odd, look up time-weighted returns vs dollar-weighted returns)

Almost all of your natural instincts (when to buy, what to buy, when to sell) will lose you money ... The average index tracker fund returns 100bps less to its investors annually than the price chart you see simply because of investor behaviour (which also rubbishes the 'zero sum game' arguments some people use to justify cap-weighted investing)

You either want a completely systematic approach to investing, that you never deviate from, or you want to adopt a contrarian mindset, where bad news spells opportunity, and good news is boring ... It's been said "Investing's the only scenario in which the Sale signs go up, and everyone runs for the exits"

No_Santander

depends on how you you want to hold it really. if you are holding it as "investment" but not "trading", which means you are not going to sell if you lose 5% of value, once a month would be ok.

depends on type of fund as well. you got to check how much it can move with in a day or week.