Break the addiction before it breaks you
Gideon Ng · Follow
Published in · 5 min read · Nov 17, 2020
--
You may have an addiction to watching the stock market, just like I previously did. However, all hope is not lost!
Here are 5 methods you can use to avoid checking your stocks too frequently:
Investing is risky, and you may lose your entire capital if you make the wrong decisions. If you’ve set up your emergency fund and start to invest a fixed amount each month, you will be more secure.
However, if you’re investing the money needed for your studies, the whole game has changed!
The stakes are much higher. You will have a higher tendency to be swayed by emotions as well.
As such, you should only invest money that you are willing to lose!
If you are checking your stocks too frequently, it could mean that you do not trust that stock to give you a good return.
The stock you invested in may not suit your risk profile. As such, it’s time to reassess your plan!
If you are investing in risky stocks, you can consider investing in blue-chip stocks. These are usually companies that are well established and relatively stable.
Some may provide a dividend as well!
The returns may not as good as growth stocks. However, they may be able to provide returns that are more consistent.
With greater risk, comes greater rewards. However, this comes with greater losses as well!
If it is too risky for you to invest in stocks, you can consider buying into an index fund instead. These funds track a stock index, and will purchase a group of stocks that the index is tracking.
As such, your returns are diversified across a few stocks, rather than one stock.
When you invest in individual stocks, you should be confident that it’ll beat the index. If you can’t find the stock to beat the index, why not follow the index instead?
Your returns may be less, but it’s definitely higher compared to leaving your money in the bank!
You may be thinking about finding the best time to invest. Why not do it via a dollar-cost averaging (DCA) approach instead?
In a DCA strategy, you are putting the same amount of money into an investment. This is regardless of whether the stock is performing well or poorly.
The best part of a DCA strategy? This allows you to automate your investments!
Here are 2 ways you can consider:
These 2 strategies are a great way for you to adopt a “set and forget” approach.
All you need to do is to set up a standing instruction with your bank. Your bank will send the funds from your account to the robo-advisor or RSP.
Your money will then be automatically invested. Once everything’s set up, you don’t need to monitor your investments that frequently!
Fees may be rather expensive
While this seems like a great strategy, one thing that you should look out for are the fees.
Regular Savings Plans (RSPs) will usually charge a transaction fee. These fees are usually quite high.
Robo-advisors have different fees that are associated with them. All these fees may add up to be pretty substantial in the end.
As such, it’s still important to periodically review your investments. This helps you to see if the fees that you’re paying are still worth it.
Even though you can “set and forget”, this doesn’t mean that you should totally forget about your investments!
You may be checking on your stocks because it’s something that you’ve prioritised. However, I’m sure that you have better things to do!
You should try to find other things that have a higher priority, or something that you enjoy doing. When you keep your mind occupied, you will spend less time thinking about your stocks.
This will greatly reduce the number of times you check your stocks!
Self-discipline is key to making sure your plan works.
Before investing, you should decide on how often you intend to check your stocks. Once you’ve made that decision, you should stick to it.
It will be hard not to look at your stocks.
I had this problem at the start, and was constantly obsessing over the stock prices.
However once you become more disciplined, this will be less of an issue. You can start by removing all the noise that distracts you. These include:
- Deleting investment apps on your phone
- Unsubscribing from news alerts for the stocks you own
Removing distractions ensures that you remain on track for your investing plan!
There are many things we can do to prevent ourselves from checking our stocks. If we are investing for the long term, the short term fluctuations do not matter that much.
As such, you should try your best to find the best way to distract yourself from those pesky stock prices!
This post originally appeared on Financially Independent Pharmacist.
I am a Pharmacy Undergraduate who started learning about personal finance in 2019. This is such an important skill, and I hope to share my experiences to make personal finance accessible for you!
This article is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered Financial or Legal Advice. Not all information will be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any significant financial decisions.
