What caught my eye this week.
How often do you check your portfolio, or even calculate your net worth? And how do you do it? Inquiring minds want to know. By which I mean your fellow Monevator readers!
The topic came up in a recent comment thread about end-of-year reviews. We decided a reader poll might be of interest.
Of course in theory I agree with my blogging buddy Nick Magguilli [1], who warned this week that most people’s time is better spent working for an income rather than fiddling with their investments:
Assume someone with $10,000 invested spends 10 hours a week doing stock research looking for the best investments. Let’s also assume that their research is good and they are able to beat the market by 10% a year as a result.
While this is impressive, unfortunately, their 520 hours of work (10 hours per week * 52 weeks per year) only netted them an additional $1,000 (10% alpha * $10,000). This means that our star analyst was doing stock research for under $2 an hour ($1,000/520 hours).
If the analyst’s ultimate goal was to build wealth, you can see how they would’ve been far better off by picking up a part-time job instead of analyzing 10-Ks.
Even if we were to increase the analyst’s portfolio size to $100,000, their 10% alpha (i.e. $10,000) is roughly equivalent to what they could have made driving for Uber in the same amount of time.
Guilty as charged Nick [1], at least for the past nine years [2].
Also, I suspect ten hours spent on investing matters a week is a big underestimate for active investors. It certainly is in my case.
On the other hand it’s good to have a hobby – even a passion.
For my part, my interest was what made saving and investing as much as 50% of my income more like an exciting prospect than a sacrifice. I was simply buying more firepower to do what I loved – the way somebody else might buy new golf clubs.
On the other hand, I don’t really any career to speak of. And given my passion, it might well have been better to get a job as a junior analyst while I still could and then to work my way into running money. (But… wearing a tie. The horror [3]!)
Anyway, I can see both sides.
The poll tax
Hopefully my musings haven’t queered the pitch too badly. Please answer the polls based on what you do – not what you think you should do!
Below you’ll find two questions. Select the answer that’s closest to your own habits.
Yes, I understand some responses aren’t mutually exclusive, or that the poll does not reflect your unique and special experience.
Mine neither. That’s the nature of broad brush polls! We’re just after a sense of how Monevator readers mind what’s theirs, in aggregate.
For instance, I check my portfolio more-than daily via a real-time spreadsheet, but I also do occasional reviews in a text document. Clearly the first best describes how I keep tabs on my portfolio, right?
Two questions, no wrong answers
Firstly, let’s hear how often you check in on your portfolio.
I don’t mean attending to administrative matters (say an email from the platform) or adding money (automatic or manually) but rather keeping tabs on the (hopefully) growing value of your stash.
[4]
Secondly, readers and I were curious how you do it.
Again – there’ll be crossover. For example I run a massive real-time spreadsheet, but of course I sometimes see elements of my portfolio on a platform’s web page. Who doesn’t? So the spreadsheet answer I’d give here.
[5]
Thanks in advance! The poll will run until Friday and I’ll either recap the final results next weekend or riff them into a future article.
Have a great weekend.
p.s. The new Netflix documentary Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street [6] is worth getting in the supermarket popcorn for. The first episode in particular offers a potted history of 20th Century Wall Street. As for the story, it’s completely unbelievable. Which is crazy, considering it’s true.
From Monevator
The Slow & Steady Passive Portfolio update: Q4 2022 – Monevator [7]
Unlocking a cheaper mortgage rate by tweaking your loan-to-value ratio – Monevator [8]
From the archive-ator: How to stick to your savings goals – Monevator [9]
News
Note: Some links are Google search results – in PC/desktop view click through to read the article. Try privacy/incognito mode to avoid cookies. Consider subscribing to sites you visit a lot.
The inventor of the US yield curve recession signal reckons its wrong this time – Bloomberg via YF [10]
Blackrock and M&G defer [i.e. effectively block] withdrawals from UK property funds – Reuters [11]
UK house prices fall by more than £4,100 in a month as cost-of-living tightens… – Yahoo Finance [12]
…while mortgage approvals are at their lowest level since June 2020 [Search result] – FT [13]
Thousands of Britons expelled from EU since Brexit transition ended – Guardian [14]
3,275 people filed their tax return on Christmas Day – GOV.UK [15]
[16]
Historically, 60/40 portfolios have soared after terrible years [US but relevant] – Humble Dollar [17]
Products and services
Top instance-access savings rate vanishes before customers can grab it – Which [18]
TSB and Nationwide latest lenders to slash mortgage rates… [Search result] – FT [19]
…while average five-year fix rate across the market now down to 5.62% – This Is Money [20]
Hargreaves Lansdown is offering £100 to £1,500 cashback if you transfer your pension to its SIPP. Terms apply – Hargreaves Lansdown [21]
Royal Mail urges people to use or swap non-barcoded stamps before deadline – Guardian [22]
Savers look to pension annuities as rates soar [Search result] – FT [23]
Open a SIPP with Interactive Investor and pay no SIPP fee for six months. Terms apply – Interactive Investor [24]
English homes for hybrid working, in pictures – Guardian [25]
Comment and opinion
Why investing is hard – Young Money [26]
Costs matter – The Financial Bodyguard [27]
The 16 best countries for retirement abroad – Think Advisor [28]
How will investors behave in 2022? – Behavioural Investment [29]
Five reasons you’ll blow up your retirement plan – Kiplinger [30]
Five ideas to improve your finances in 2023 – Jason Butler [31]
Achieve – Indeedably [32]
Money and happiness, with William Green [Podcast] – The Investor’s Podcast [33]
Eight tips for finding a suitable financial advisor [34] – The Evidence-based Investor [35]
Venture capital’s reckoning looms closer [Search result] – FT [36]
Old age and money mini-special
A Mexican wrestler gets a taste of retirement at 50 – Humble Dollar [37]
Talking to adult kids about money and inheritances – Kindness Financial Planning [38]
Larry Swedroe: The elderly keep accumulating assets – Advisor Perspectives [39]
Looking back over an ‘interesting’ year – Simple Living in Somerset [40]
Naughty corner: Active antics
[41]
End of the sub-zero bond yield era [Search result] – FT [42]
Best of The Long View investing podcast of 2022 [Podcast] – Morningstar [43]
Great news! US consumer sentiment is awful! – Alhambra Investments [44]
New Year bargains – Fire V London [45]
Hedge funds have their ‘hedge’ back – Validea [46]
The inflation outlook in five charts – Morningstar [47]
Dylan Grice: building resilient portfolios with alternatives [Podcast] – Allocators [48]
UK stock picker portfolio reviews
A 2022 portfolio review from a veteran UK small cap stockpicker… – Maynard Paton [49]
…and the same from a long-time UK dividend share investor – John Kingham [50]
An annual review of a portfolio of UK closed-ended funds – IT Investor [51]
How to survive a bad year in the stock market – Richard Beddard [52]
Kindle book bargains
The Investment Trusts Handbook 2023 by Jonathan Davis et al – Free on Kindle [53]
Stuffocation: Living More With Less by James Wallman – £0.99 on Kindle [54]
Factfulness: Ten Reasons…Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling – £0.99 on Kindle [55]
Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing by Jacob Goldstein – £1.19 on Kindle [56]
Dead in the Water: Murder and Fraud in the World’s Most Secretive Industry by Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel – £1.29 on Kindle [57]
Environmental factors
Where have all the A-rated fridges and freezers gone? – Which [58]
The dolphins dying in the Ukraine war – BBC [59]
UK’s record hot 2022 made 160 times more likely by climate crisis – Guardian [60]
Flying boats and other technology for cleaner shipping – BBC [61]
The doomsday glacier – Hakai [62]
Off our beat
[US] inequality might have peaked – Noahopion [63]
The company purging meetings from its calendars – Guardian [64]
How David Beckham made $500m in MLS – Huddle Up [65] [h/t Abnormal Returns [66]]
Freudenschaude – Barry Ritholtz [67]
The world as it is – Seth’s Blog [68]
And finally…
“In the abstract, life is a mixture of chance and choice. Chance can be thought of as the cards you are dealt in life. Choice is how you play them.”
– Edward Thorpe, A Man for All Markets [69]
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