When it comes to our investments, I tend to “look but not touch,” that is, to pay attention to how our investments are doing, but not make any changes to them. At this point, our contributions are mostly on automatic. Sure, there are occasional exceptions, but by and large, there’s not a lot to “do” when it comes to our game of investing.
It’s mostly sitting and watching 🙂
Which I do a lot of. I like to read up on how the market is doing, and I often look at our Personal Capital Dashboard (where I can see the mid-day changes in ETF prices and, after the market closes, changes in mutual fund prices). For better or for worse, I tend to look several times a day, especially weekdays when the market is moving. By and large, this feels like an innocuous habit. It satisfies my curiosity, and I feel more informed about current economic issues from following the movements of the market. The only time I remember regretting looking was February of 2020, when the market drama caused by the Pandemic was quite startling.
Admittedly, this year has been a strange and unusual ride too, watching the market change (mostly on its way down). It’s like witnessing the aurora borealis: full of colors and lights. As Shakespeare said, “It is a tale told by an idiot, all sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
Fortunately, it signifies nothing for our investing strategy, too , as I have altered nothing in the process 🙂 Just done a lot of looking.
“Oh, wow. It went down 2% again!” “Oh my, it went back up 2%!” Up and down, up and down, lots of change…
Of course, price changes do not change (except possibly to help) the real game, called Growing Share Ownership. When you start focusing on your growth of ownership shares you see how little drama there is from day to day, because price changes do not change your ownership share (except to affect the price at which you buy more shares).
It’s okay to watch all the “sound and fury,” as long as you keep it in perspective.
You can look, but don’t touch!