new investor here and a student. i’m checking my portfolio every day… sometimes multiple times a day. i know i’m supposed to be “long term” but brain doesn’t listen. does this phase pass or is this just part of the process?

    how often do you actually check your portfolio?
    byu/YogurtIll4336 instocks



    Posted by YogurtIll4336

    42 Comments

    1. StonklordBenno on

      I started to use yahoo finance to track my portfolio to avoid staring at the number fluctuations

    2. Once a week, same schedule as paying off credit cards. Can run through the full procedure in about 30 minutes.

    3. In the beginning i used to look at it daily aswell. Now: Once a month when i’m checking my finances. With that i also got more relaxed when it comes to investing. 🙂

    4. creamier_than_u on

      I have a fun portfolio that I check most days and enjoy engaging with. 90% of my investments are in well diversified ETFs, I check this more like once a month and have a policy of not touching it.

    5. When I’m bored like every hour or lol. You should not. The less you look the less stupid shit you do.

      But I have ADHD

    6. Southern-Voice-8209 on

      It’s normal man! Especially at the beginning or when you start a new position but it will slow down with time.

      I would probably recommend to just follow the price of your stocks on a free stock app (yahoo, investing etc), not with your actual portfolio. I found this less painful…

    7. Fuck uhh maybe once every 3 weeks? Or maybe once every two months LOL.

      Buy and hold is boring

    8. Mysterious-Meal-8797 on

      I stopped looking for the most part, just a few times a month. Auto invest enabled

    9. Given it’s on my phone and I’ve nothing better to do for long stretches each day… ***multiple times per day.*** — *Just checking though ;-)*

      **How many ‘trades’ do I do?**
      Last one was a rebalance in November; and before that the last **new** stock pick was July. My regular paycheck goes into stocks on auto buy — I review these semi-annually.

      I’m generally pretty inactive though, and do the occasional Put selling when Golden opportunities arise — pre-planned thru stock screeners and research on my desktop during my quiet periods that generate watch lists and price alerts. **So the decisions were made months in advance** … ***not on a whim***!

      == *My Advice* == : **Find a stock screener and use the time spent obsessively checking to start researching** — ***’Waste’ your time more effectively***

      I used to meddle more and be more reactive in my trading, this yielded much worse results. **Patience came from just sticking to the plan and seeing the results** over a period of years.

      – ***Line go up make monkey brain happy and content.***

    10. Bright-Chart-3605 on

      It passes my dude. Sometimes once a month sometimes every second day. Depends on how broke I’m feeling 

    11. pocketsquare22 on

      Once every couple weeks. I’m in all SPY or SPX tracking funds (investment account, 401ks and 529s) so I just see what the market does on a daily basis and that mostly does it for me. I used to not be in SPX and all I did was stress about my performance vs what the S&P was doing so I just switched over and it’s a much less stressful experience

    12. Write a note to yourself explaining your strategy and read it everytime you check your stonks

    13. I checked less when the port was smaller and i wasn’t as active. Now a red or green day is a huge swing andI look more. It would be better for my mental health if i looked less. It’s addictive 

    14. Simple-Ease-7830 on

      I check 3-4 times a day. I do it mainly to see if an individual stock went way up or down vs the market so I can look to see if any news came out. That way I stay up current on what’s happening with my companies. If you make investing decisions based off daily stock prices though then stop looking as much.

    15. When I was new to this several times per day.

      Now maybe 2 times per year 😂

      I just buy the monthly ETF and let them marinate for a few decades

    16. Kitchen_File_8946 on

      Once a day ish, if its a bear market maybe once a week or in worst case scenario once a month or when i invest.

    17. We all do that at first, it’s pretty normal to treat it as a new hobby and get a little fixated.

    18. Compound-V-Injected on

      This is called Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder . All investors face this issue. The only method is to uninstall the app from your phone.

    19. very good times: a few times a day
      good times: twiche a day
      bad times: every other day
      very bad times: never until i read good news

    20. therealjerseytom on

      There’s nothing wrong with looking at a number. It’s literally just a number.

      The effect it has on you is a separate topic.

    21. That would be interesting to see a research relating the portfolio performance and how often they check.

    22. All my investments are visible in my portfolio trackers, so countless times in a day. Obviously I only trade on my trading stocks, but I can see all my retirement investments in the same view

    23. I’ve found it helpful to imagine an investment portfolio like a farm that I own with partners, but which someone else manages. The managers report conditions on the farm quarterly, and around the same time some of them send a cash dividend representing my share of the surplus, which I use either to pay for expenses or buy a little more “farmland.”

      As a rule, I try to only check on the “farm” about once a year during the first week of January. I read the annual reports of each of my holdings the weekend after they come out, and I keep the reading of other annual reports to specific times on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. 

      I think it helps to maintain hobbies and relationships outside of investing, and to focus on tangible things that bring calmness, joy, or a feeling of growth. If I would were you, I would try to find out what those things mean to me and build my life around them. You may not know yet, but now is as good a time as any to start. 

      Best of luck with everything.

    24. Grouchy-Engine1584 on

      Depends on the day. When shit’s moving, multiple times per day. Just because you’re a long term investor doesn’t mean responding to events is wrong.

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