One question I get frequently when I’m working with clients is, “How often should I be checking my investment account?” Unfortunately, there’s no magic number or one-size-fits-all answer. But there are two pieces of advice that can help you find the right cadence for you.
Stay informed without overloading yourself
First, you should feel like you’re staying informed on your financial situation. And second, you shouldn’t be thinking about it so much that you’re getting stressed out.
In today’s environment, information overload is a real thing. If you’re thinking about your portfolio to the point where you’re having trouble sleeping at night, it may be time to take a step back.
A story about sticking to a schedule
I had a client who’s been checking his investment account on January 1st and July 1st like clockwork, forever. When COVID hit in 2020, he checked on January 1st, and the S&P had just come off a really good year in 2019, up around 31%. By March 20th, the S&P was down around 30%. But he stuck to his guns and didn’t check again until July 1st, as he had every year. By that point the market was only down 2.5%.
I always think of that client when the market gets turbulent, versus the clients who are checking every single day. You can tell those daily checkers are just letting it eat at them.
Find your happy medium
The happiest clients I’ve seen tend to check their accounts somewhere between two and four times a year. This is different for everybody, but if you can get to the point where you feel like you know what’s going on with your accounts without it dominating your thoughts every single day, that’s a good balance to strike.
