Watching the markets

[COZICAN]

For 28 years watching the market is a daily (if not hourly since I'm always online) thing for me. I've rejoiced in the ups and stomached the downs at times. I can't imagine the stress post-ER. I don't hear much chatter on here regarding the market. So do you? Daily? Monthly? Quarterly? I will be in a lower AA once ER'd but I can't imagine me changing the habit of checking it regularly. I know I don't want to have to.

Coz

 

[Spock]

There will be fat fire responses with "have a stomach/backbone... markets go down as well as up".
I invest extremely conservative such that while stock up/downs are noticeable, I'm more unhappy with the latest carnage in CDs and bonds. Since I recently reacted by locking up more 5 yr CDs, hopefully they'll be higher again when they mature.

 

[GravitySucks]

Check the S&P couple of times a week. Hard not to hear or see it in the news.
Check the number that really matters -the portfolio value- every now and then. Used to check both daily, but I don't worry as much now. It's best for me to not check too often. Lessens the fear and greed factors.

 

[COZICAN]

There will be fat fire responses with "have a stomach/backbone... markets go down as well as up".
I invest extremely conservative such that while stock up/downs are noticeable, I'm more unhappy with the latest carnage in CDs and bonds. Since I recently reacted by locking up more 5 yr CDs, hopefully they'll be higher again when they mature.

It wasn't easy but I put 100K in 3 sub 4% 12 month CD's last year. That was something I never would have considered in the past.

 

[REWahoo]

Retired 14+ years, I still check it daily but the ongoing gyrations rarely have any impact on my blood pressure. It's a habit, much like checking the temperature...

 

[Aerides]

I listen to the noise but keep it mostly in the background. ER'd for 3 years.

Mostly it doesn't mean a whole lot to me. I'm not selling anything anytime remotely soon, and we keep a few years of expenses in cash/CD's, just for this purpose. We should never have to sell in a downturn to pay our normal expenses. So whatever is happening today is not relevant to our near term plans.

 

[street]

I check into see where things are at almost everyday. With a smart phone it is only a finger touch away to see where market is at.

 

[JDARNELL]

I don’t look at it. I do keep an eye on macro economic trends

 

[OldShooter]

I watch the market daily just like I watch the fish in the aquarium at the dentist's office. Pretty fish, bumbling around with no rhyme or reason. More interesting than a lava lamp but pretty much the same sort of mindless thing.

Once a year DW and I look at our portfolio. Some years we even make a trade or two. In no case that I can remember have we ever made a trade or a decision based on market action. When I do look at a web page with a graph, I immediately set the time scale to a year or to five years.

 

[COZICAN]

I listen to the noise but keep it mostly in the background. ER'd for 3 years.

Mostly it doesn't mean a whole lot to me. I'm not selling anything anytime remotely soon, and we keep a few years of expenses in cash/CD's, just for this purpose. We should never have to sell in a downturn to pay our normal expenses. So whatever is happening today is not relevant to our near term plans.

Thanks. This is my plan also.

 

[jollystomper]

If we are around home, during my brief evening channel surfing I'll look at one of the financial networks to find out what the markets did. But it does not mean much to me on a daily basis. I can estimate the impact to my portfolio based on the markets so it is more an amusement to me.Every so often DW will ask me how we are doing. She is getting used to me not being concerned about our daily portfolio swings.

 

[RobbieB]

I never check it, just look at the monthly statements that come in the (snail) mail

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

I have my Ameritrade Thinkorswim streamer running as I type this. I check things out a few times a day. However, I can go months without doing a trade, and then I might do a bunch of trades in one day in times of volatility.

Recently I've been selling as I'm transferring a couple tIRA accounts to a 457(b) so that I can later do an after-tax distribution from a 401(k). In addition, I've sold off a couple losing positions as part of a tax strategy trying to keep my 2019 income under the top of the 24% bracket (single). I'm also doing this to keep my equity % closer to 60% as it has been creeping up as the market moved up this year.

I rarely open a statement other to file it. No need to as I see position data daily.

 

[HadEnuff]

been retired 3 years, and I still watch it. Not as much or as often as I once did. I am pretty conservatively invested, and I sleep well. I think I have enough in the market so that if it continues to go up, unabated, I'll be fine. If it tanks, I'll still be fine, maybe better in the long run since I'd have plenty of dry powder ( I hate that term but can't think of a handier one) to buy up some bargains....
WR around 3%, so I don't need to be swinging for the fences...more of a Pete Rose type, solid single, occasional double in the gap works just fine for me.

 

[COZICAN]

been retired 3 years, and I still watch it. Not as much or as often as I once did. I am pretty conservatively invested, and I sleep well. I think I have enough in the market so that if it continues to go up, unabated, I'll be fine. If it tanks, I'll still be fine, maybe better in the long run since I'd have plenty of dry powder ( I hate that term but can't think of a handier one) to buy up some bargains....
WR around 3%, so I don't need to be swinging for the fences...more of a Pete Rose type, solid single, occasional double in the gap works just fine for me.

Thanks. That's what I'm looking for....peace of mind. My future conservative AA and a backup of CD's hopefully will give me that too.

 

[NW-Bound]

For 28 years watching the market is a daily (if not hourly since I'm always online) thing for me. I've rejoiced in the ups and stomached the downs at times. I can't imagine the stress post-ER...

I only started watching daily if not hourly since 1998. That's only 21 years for me.

Up and down a few hundred $K in a time as short as one month, such as the recent month of May.

No, no stress. I am always on the look out to buy or to sell something, although most days I do neither.

 

[RunningBum]

I rarely check. I'm sticking to my AA, so what good does it do? I don't need the stress. If it's down, I should stay in and let it recover, so that's not good info. If it's up, it's not like I have more to invest, and I periodically rebalance so I'll take some of those gains off the table then if there's been a bull market. I check my VG account every week or two, more to make sure nothing odd has happened, and note changes when I check. I listen to NPR Marketwatch a lot and catch which music they play for market up or down, but I don't really consider that checking.

 

[NW-Bound]

I have not had a day when I "lost" $100K, but I have come really close (short only a few $K).

I have observed that on the best days, I gain only about 1/2 of the loss of the worst days. The market always goes down harder than it goes up. This means Fear is stronger than Greed, or the loss aversion is greater than the joy of winning as they often say.

 

[ERD50]

I watch, and check often since it is so easy. However, I almost never act.

The last time I acted/reacted was a simple re-balance, which fortuitously was near the lows of the 2008 drop.

Why do I check? Mostly just curios, and I use it as news filter. If I see some "OMG!" news, and the market has not reacted, I say "meh". If I do see a big swing, I might want to check the news to see what's gong on. That is all.

-ERD50

 

[steelyman]

I watch, and check often since it is so easy. However, I almost never act.

Same here. The CNBC app and Google Sheets make a market and portfolio check easy. Those and a glance at a weather app take just a few minutes over morning coffee.

But, as Paul Simon wrote, “I get the news I need on the weather report”.

 

[audreyh1]

I haven’t been paying attention because I’ve been way too busy.

 

[target2019]

Been watching for about ten years. On individual stocks I may take action. But most is held in index funds, so the AA takes care of most gyrations for me.

 

[ejman]

The market ups and downs are wonderful as entertainment but I never do anything unless my 50/50 AA gets so far out of alignment that my wide 10% bands are breached. This hardly ever happens so I usually end up having a decade or more of entertainment before I actually have to do anything. Currently 52/48 so the spectator sport continues. ER'd for 17 years now liquid NW 2.3X of retirement amount- this approach works for me.

 

[easysurfer]

I don't watch unless there are huge swings. Then, just for entertainment purposes .

 

[Dtail]

Check it daily except on vacation. Update my accounts daily with about 5-7 minutes of work.
Retired almost 2 years. Didn't panic at all with the Dec 18 drop. Trust the calculators.