If you have any investments, then it makes sense to keep an eye on them as this will enable you to understand how your portfolio is performing. You can then make the necessary changes to ensure you generate a profit but, how often should you check on your investments?
The Importance of Checking on Your Investments
Any investor will want to know how their investments are performing and this is completely natural. In fact, checking your investments can prove useful and this is particularly true when it comes to investing on your own. You might want to check your investment plan, even though you are an investor with a medium risk appetite with a desire to hold a 50/50 split of shares and bonds. Once you check out your investments, you might notice that things have changed and that the split has now changed to 80/20 in favour of shares as a result of changes to the market and an improvement in performance in shares. What this will mean is that your risk level has increased and so, you might need to make the necessary changes in order to rebalance your portfolio.
One other reason to monitor your portfolio is to ensure that it is still on track to meet your goals. If you want to have a good pension that will enable you to retire comfortably then you might want to ensure that everything is working hard for you. However, it is not a case of whether you should check your investments but a case of how often should you do it?
How Often Should Your Investments Be Checked?
This essentially depends on the type of investor that you are. If you are a frequent trader of investments, you might as well check your investments as much as possible. If you are day trading, then this requires you to make quick choices and decisions as short-term fluctuations can occur and so, this can prove risky. There is a real risk of losing money and there is evidence to suggest that there is very little success when it comes to making gains.
In contrast to day trading, if you are a long-term investor, then you might not benefit from checking your portfolio daily. In fact, checking daily could have the opposite effect and cause problems for your investments. By checking frequently, you might become concerned with fluctuations from one day to another and instead of looking at the bigger picture, you might find yourself feeling anxious. This could result in you making snap decisions that could have a negative impact on your investments in the long-term. Investments can go up and down over a short period but if you are investing in the long term then it helps to understand that things can fluctuate. So, the best way to avoid making rash decisions is to not worry about the changes and to remember what your goals are while limiting how often you check your portfolio.
We are not saying that you should avoid checking your portfolio completely because it does help to have some understanding of how your investments are performing. However, instead of looking weekly or daily, you can take a step back and give your portfolio the time to grow. The market’s historical performance shows us that those who ignore the market noise and invest with a long-term goal, will often find that they get the rewards they seek. Many expect a solid return on the capital they provide while the equity and bond markets have historically delivered that growth of wealth that even offsets inflation.
You won’t become wealthy overnight but by limiting how often you check, you will give your investments the opportunity to flourish. However, this can take many years, so there is no real need to check your investments each day or week. Perhaps once a month or every three months might work better for you, or if possible, you could even stretch this out to six months or even a year.
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