In a bull market (like the present one) people tend to see their portfolio far more often than in a bear market. How do we know this? American research. In India we cannot do research and data driven articles – we just don’t do enough research anyway.

Right now you are not sure if it is a bull market or a bear market, right? Well if you see the PE it is a bull market. However if the EPS growth happens if will be fairly valued. We are all waiting for the corporate EPS to go up. Generally for the companies in which you have invested and the market in general. How often do you look at your portfolio? 4 times a day, 4 times a month, 4 times a year, or 4 times in a decade?

I know people in all 4 categories!! There is no great justification to see your portfolio regularly unless you think you have evidence that you should act. Every noise in the market should not mean that it needs a reaction from you. You should look at your portfolio ONLY if you know how to do a review and to do a reallocation of assets. I see some people who sell off shares or stop schemes just because it has under-performed (according to them) over the past 2 years. I know one person earning about Rs. 4L a month stopping his SIP after 5 months because it was giving him returns below the debt fund returns. He asked me, and I said “I don’t do advisory work”. That is the best I could do. He needed an adviser to do some hand holding, and that was not me.

Some people believe that if you do not check your portfolio you could keep hoping that it is doing well!! I guess it is psychological too. If you see you will be forced to worry! Explains why some people do not go for a medical check up for years together. They believe if something were wrong it would manifest. So if it is a GOAL-LESS investment plan…you can carry on rudderless, right?

The “Economic Man” should not be worried about the day to day performance of his portfolio. He should be concerned ONLY about his goals. However we are humans and we will “try” to capture all the pleasure and avoid all the pain. We will want all the returns and avoid all the risk. We are we!!

So if it is a pain, we stop looking. We will pretend that if we don’t look at it, it will go away. Like tooth ache. We will go ONLY when the pain is unbearable. The dentist will go to the ophthalmologist only when she really can’t see or eyes are burning. The ophthal will go to a dentist ONLY when her toothache is unbearable. We are like that only!

Completely blocking the data – and hoping that things are doing well is not a sensible thing to do. It could lead to too much of pain later on. So what should one do? How to strike a balance between 5 times a day to once in 5 years?

Set a timetable with your adviser. Once in a quarter? Once in 6 months? Have a look at your portfolio, and pick up the phone and talk with your adviser. You may need a 5 minute chat or a 30 minute chat. Make sure that some share with poor governance has crept into your portfolio. Being vigilant is better – but that does not mean you should panic at the hint of bad news. A CXO drinking and driving a car is not a reason to sell the share, but the company’s attitude towards the accident is.

When headlines are talking of doomsday, and nobody even wants to talk to you about shares, it may be time to buy. Exactly when everybody is talking about buying shares it may be the best time to offload partially.

Be a thinking, involved and meditative investor.