Do you check your investment accounts regularly, during this market volatility?

[Anonymous]

I'm struggling with the impulse to look at the account online summary for our investment accounts. When the market drops 300 points, as it did yesterday, I get a pit in my stomach thinking about the affect on our nest egg. We didn't move our assets during the last recession, and it recovered (and made more money) and I know we'll ride this one out as well. In the long run hopefully everything will recover.

Is it better to just not look at the day-to-day changes?

[Anonymous]

Do not check. If you've set up your investments appropriately, then you are fine. It's better not to trade, and if you're not going to trade, why look?

Analysis: Happiest traders are infrequent traders - http://old.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20010513rudd8.asp

"...12,000 investors who did the most trading earned a return of just 10 percent while those who traded infrequently earned 17.5 percent."

[Anonymous]

I only look to add. I see this an opportunity to continue the saving strategy we developed and are comfortable continuing, despite volatility. If you think looking will derail your plan, don't do it.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I am definitely not going to trade anything. I can't quite explain why I feel the urge to check the account summary. I guess I keep hoping that the diminution of our savings will not be as terrible as I fear, but then I check it and I feel worse!

It does make me want to work harder to not spend as much money, and it does make me want to work more hours, so I guess there is some benefit.

[Anonymous]

DH checks daily. Always has. I don't know why, but he likes to see the incremental build during bull times.

[Anonymous]

Where is your $$ invested?

[Anonymous]

Sadly, I checked. I'm sure it's temporary but it kind of clouds my whole week.

[Anonymous]

Our financial adviser calls to make sure we're okay. Apparently his office gets many panicked calls. We tell him we're in for the long haul. And yes, my husband does check regularly but does not stress the downs.

[Anonymous]

Nope. The only way I know there's volatility is because my broker calls and asks if I want to buy more stuff "on sale".

[Anonymous]

I made the mistake of checking our 529 accounts the other day and did freak out a bit when I saw that they are now worth less than the principal that was invested (we just opened them about two years ago and put one large chunk in each year).

I'm trying to remind myself that it'll come back but it's a little scary.

[Anonymous]

if you are investing correctly, the market taking a dip shouldn't worry you too much:

short term savings (emergency funds) should be in cash or not in the stock market

retirement savings should be in stocks but if you are 10+ years out you still have tons of time to recover, plus you can buy more shares if you are dollar-cost averaging and putting in money regularly as you should be.

529 plans should be in an age-based funds or you should be switching it to a more conservative position (ie. cash or bonds) gradually every year or so. Not something to freak out about day to day.

[Anonymous]

What everyone has said is correct, but really, you need a different mindset. It's not about assuring yourself that it "will recover," but rather adopting the mindset that price is largely irrelevant.

You own a share in a business, or many shares in many businesses, but the idea is the same. You own this business not because you're interested in what someone is willing to pay for it at any given moment, but (more importantly) because you believe it will produce a favorable stream of earnings over the next several decades. And despite the price volatility of the markets, corporate earnings are relatively strong.

If you were a landlord instead of an equity investor, and your properties were owned outright and were producing a steady, consistent stream of rental income every month, why on Earth would you get a pit in your stomach about some fluctuations in the prices of real estate? You wouldn't, because you already own it, and you're not planning on selling it. Or, if the price went way down, you'd consider buying an additional rental property.

Get your head in the right place, and focus on earnings. Price volatility doesn't matter long term, because eventually, the price will always track the earnings. It has to.

[Anonymous]

Depends.

Are you dollar cost averaging into dividend paying stocks? Then yeah by all means look into your accounts, run your stock screener, and find solid stocks which are pulled down and have solid fundamentals and increasing dividend yields and load on up. As long as the dividends haven't been cut, or the payout ratios become precarious due to dropping earnings per share, you're fine. I personally don't mind trying to grab a falling knife as I don't time the market.

Are you the type of person who panics and sells, despite the fact that you don't really need to touch this money for 20-40 years? Are you trying to "time" the market? If so, you shouldn't be anywhere near a computer.

People who did the former took advantage of the later in 2007-2008, and have seen huge gains in capital appreciation and dividend yields. To me, volatility is when stocks go on sale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What everyone has said is correct, but really, you need a different mindset. It's not about assuring yourself that it "will recover," but rather adopting the mindset that price is largely irrelevant.

You own a share in a business, or many shares in many businesses, but the idea is the same. You own this business not because you're interested in what someone is willing to pay for it at any given moment, but (more importantly) because you believe it will produce a favorable stream of earnings over the next several decades. And despite the price volatility of the markets, corporate earnings are relatively strong.

If you were a landlord instead of an equity investor, and your properties were owned outright and were producing a steady, consistent stream of rental income every month, why on Earth would you get a pit in your stomach about some fluctuations in the prices of real estate? You wouldn't, because you already own it, and you're not planning on selling it. Or, if the price went way down, you'd consider buying an additional rental property.

Get your head in the right place, and focus on earnings. Price volatility doesn't matter long term, because eventually, the price will always track the earnings. It has to.

Listen to this guy!

Do you sell your house immediately if it drops in value? Of course not!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH checks daily. Always has. I don't know why, but he likes to see the incremental build during bull times.

Weird. He sounds obssessed with money.