Tips for not obsessively checking investments

Kiran

Similarly to you, I've had savings for a while and they have never interested me to the point where I actively checked them. I started investing a couple of months ago and my account sits in a tab in my browser all day. In a similar way to my read out from my solar panels does. It's purely due to curiosity. That being said, my ETF is doing what it is supposed to do, which is great, but it doesn't really get anymore exciting than that after a few weeks. What I do have is a couple of speculative investments that I watch. I treat it the same as gambling, I fully expect them to tank but if they don't then happy days. These are my free sign up shares, and some moderately educated gambles. The speculative pot amounts to about £500 at the moment but it is much more exciting than the fund which I have no intention of playing with

vacheron

Two questions:

• Is your checking really "obsessive" (is it preveniting or distracting you from performing other everyday tasks) or just done out of curiosity.

• 2: How does it makes you feel when you check? 

My DC pensions are split between 3 funds with 3 providers, all of which have their own app which uses facial recognition to log in and displays todays value right on the first page.
To check all 3 would take literally less than 1 minute and is pure curiosity.
Whether the value is up 0.1% or down 10% since I last checked would make no difference to my reaction or how I would feel for the rest of the day, but it gives me peace of mind to know.

The same applies to my non-pension investments. I keep a spreadsheet on the cloud with evertything I own or owe listed there along with a column showing the date I last updated that item, so when I do check, I often open this up and update it too if I am near a PC. 

Many people will easily spend 10 times longer than this every day checking facebook or reading about what "celebrities" (who they have never met and never will) have been doing which makes no difference whatsoever to their lives.

Most wouldn't call that obsessive, so why should this be?

winkowinko

vacheron said:

Two questions:

• Is your checking really "obsessive" (is it preveniting or distracting you from performing other everyday tasks) or just done out of curiosity.

• 2: How does it makes you feel when you check? 

Obsessive may not have been the correct word to describe it. It's not preventing me from performing other every day tasks either.

The investments have been rising in value in the very short time I have held them, so there's definitely a buzz factor in logging in every day and seeing the value increase. What maybe concerns me a little, is how it might make me feel seeing them inevitably decline for periods of time in the future.

I think I need to remind myself that the plan for the next 15-20 years is to literally do nothing with it. No tinkering, just let it roll. And therefore, its value on a day-to-day or even month-to-month basis is irrelevant.

SH88SH88

Perhaps just stick to a rigid (and easy to remember) schedule  .... e.g. First Monday afternoon of the month, or something similar. 

vacheron

winkowinko said:

vacheron said:

Two questions:

• Is your checking really "obsessive" (is it preveniting or distracting you from performing other everyday tasks) or just done out of curiosity.

• 2: How does it makes you feel when you check? 

Obsessive may not have been the correct word to describe it. It's not preventing me from performing other every day tasks either.

The investments have been rising in value in the very short time I have held them, so there's definitely a buzz factor in logging in every day and seeing the value increase. What maybe concerns me a little, is how it might make me feel seeing them inevitably decline for periods of time in the future.

I think I need to remind myself that the plan for the next 15-20 years is to literally do nothing with it. No tinkering, just let it roll. And therefore, its value on a day-to-day or even month-to-month basis is irrelevant.

Are you still earning income that you can invest in the future? If so (and as the time where you may need the money is far away) then a cheap market should be looked on as an opportunity to snap up a little more.

I feel that watching a portfolio fall is a good thing, providing you sit on your hands. The more times you see it fall, the more times you will see it recover, and each time you do so, the concern will become less and less, making it less and less likely that you will make some knee-jerk reaction. 

My colleagues couldn't understand how I could "lose" a 6 figure paper loss during the Trump tarrif debacle and remain utterly indifferent about it.

The only reason was because I had been there and done the same thing (nothing) in 2020, 2011, 2008, 2001..... 

winkowinko

@vacheron yes I am in employment, and will continue to add to my investment over the next 20 years. Whether that's on a monthly basis or a lump sum every year or so, I haven't quite decided.

It's reassuring to know that one can (and should) be unflappable about a 6 figure paper loss.

I'm at the beginning of my investment journey, so I guess these feelings and questions are all very much part of the newbie process.

solidpro

It might seem fun to check when the trajectory is constantly up but it really won't be when there is a big crash, which there will be. 

I've tried to reign it in because feeling like Scrooge Mcduck swimming in money is a lovely but also quite corrosive endeavour and when 2 years of gains are wiped out in 48 hours it will feel awful. 

jaypers

I like to check mine fairly regularly but the key thing is to expect drops, which if you have single stocks can be significant, and then not to panic as peaks and troughs are par for the course with investments. I keep a spreadsheet with graphs that I update monthly to track progress over time which helps thinking in this respect. Always remember that investments should be viewed as medium to long term.

DjangoUnchained

i check my stock/shares account regularly, its all etf (sp500 and nasdaq) so not too volatile lately, I'm looking for dips so i can add, am looking to invest for maybe 10yrs. Im cautious so i have most of my money in fixed rate accounts .

Notepad_Phil

solidpro said:

It might seem fun to check when the trajectory is constantly up but it really won't be when there is a big crash, which there will be. 

I've tried to reign it in because feeling like Scrooge Mcduck swimming in money is a lovely but also quite corrosive endeavour and when 2 years of gains are wiped out in 48 hours it will feel awful. 

During accumulation I always looked forward to market drops as it meant my monthly purchases would buy more units. And now I'm retired I still don't mind market drops as I'm sensibly invested and I've seen enough of them to know that unless something's gone really wrong then markets will eventually recover.