No-look November 2018

[Itsallaguess]

I'm still not quite sure if the current market is going to make it easier or harder to complete this challenge next month....

Are we at the point yet where we've already stopped looking, or is it the sort of market where it's impossible to take your eyes off the screen?

Anyhow - three more trading-days to go and then I'll post up some index figures on Wednesday night that we can all use to compare any performance (or lack of it!) differences over our No-Look November challenge....

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[kiloran]

If the market falls are as gruesome as those recently, I'll be looking from behind the sofa

Maybe I should just invest in a safe-as-houses 0.1% savings account!

--kiloran

[Itsallaguess]

Right, so here we are at close-of-play on Wednesday 31st of October 2018.

The plan is that barring situations where visibility is necessary, and it's acknowledged that this might be the case where portfolio actions are required for a number of very good reasons, that we try to go the whole month of November 2018 without looking at our investment portfolio.

If you're here and you did it last year, you'll know that it's possible....

If you're here and you really can't remember the last time you went 4 days without looking at your portfolio, never mind 4 weeks, then please, give it a go - it's really quite liberating once you get into the swing of it, and it really does open your eyes to the real waste of time and energy that poring over our investments can actually be...

We know - deep in our hearts - that we actually add very little value on a day-to-day basis regarding our investments....

We know - deep in our hearts - that time itself is doing the vast majority of the heavy-lifting when it comes to our investment performance, and that time will pass just the same whether we are scrutinising our portfolio's or not....

This experiment is trying to remind ourselves of these facts, and to remind us that we can spend our time much more productively than simply taking yet another look at those little blue and red figures on our screens....

So, for anyone wanting to take part this year, I suggest going and taking one last look tonight, and whilst you're there take a snapshot of the portfolio and also the overall portfolio value.

Also take a snapshot of your portfolio component values, as we know from last year's exercise that compiling some statistics against market movements over the four weeks of abstinence can be really quite revealing, and having this suite of data from the last trading day in October obviously helps with this later on..

Here's some indices values at close of play tonight to allow us to compare things in a month -

FTSE 100 - 7,128.10
FTSE 250 - 18,917.68
FTSE 350 High Yield - 3,637.35
FTSE All-Share - 3,904.23

Good luck to anyone wanting to take part in this year's challenge.

As always, I'd love to hear from those of you that are taking an interest in this experiment, and especially if you're actually taking part. I certainly found that part of the therapy last year was the collective encouragement we all gave each other, so hopefully that's also the case this year.

Let the 'not-looking' begin!

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[poppy101]

I'm in
Even though I have been disciplined over the past year in terms of a regular direct debit drip-feeding my investment funds, regardless of market conditions, I still haven't been able to resist checking the performance on a daily basis and looking up financial news etc. Will be good to take a semi-enforced month off

[Raptor]

Figures captured. Last of octobers divis added. Let the "fun" begin.

Raptor.

[kiloran]

and it really does open your eyes to the real waste of time and energy that poring over our investments can actually be...

I'm retired so I've all the time in the world. And I've perfected the art so looking at my porfolio takes far less energy than most other things

This experiment is trying to remind ourselves of these facts, and to remind us that we can spend our time much more productively....

Like mowing the lawn, taking the wife shopping, weeding the garden, taking the wife shopping, painting the shed door, taking the wife shopping, cleaning the car, taking the wife shopping, fixing that dripping tap, taking the wife shopping, taking that pile of rubbish down the tip, taking the wife shopping, etc ad infinitum, ad nauseum

Hmmm. Think I'll stick with the portfolio

--kiloran

[OLTB]

Oh my God - have you just heard what's happened to Unilever - incredible! I wonder how my portfolio will react now

Cheers, OLTB.

[tjh290633]

The news from BLT Billiton has occupied me this morning. Too much happening to ignore it.

TJH

[Gengulphus]

The news from BLT Billiton has occupied me this morning. Too much happening to ignore it.

But surely with regard to this thread's topic, i.e. not looking at one's portfolio, there's enough in the announcement to tell one that one can happily ignore one's portfolio for the whole of November (and indeed the first half of December as well), except in the fairly special case that one is an Australian taxpayer and owns BHP Billiton Limited shares (or is uncertain whether one owns them). Basically, everything up to December 17th is to do with the off-market buyback (which is basically a tender offer) and only of interest in that special case, and the special dividend doesn't even get determined until then. And with regard to the main practical effect, i.e. the need to reinvest the special dividend, that doesn't arise until the end of January...

I.e. I don't see any compelling reason in this morning's news from BHP Billiton to look at one's portfolio this month (at least!), unless the special case applies. And even then, I'd guess that one should be able to wait to look at it until December 1st...

Gengulphus

[tjh290633]

The opportunity to top up BLT before the XD date for a very quick return is hard to ignore.

TJH

[Itsallaguess]

So it's the end of day one - always a nice psychological milestone to get behind us....

As Rocky said to Clubber Lang all those years ago - 'Ain't so bad....'

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[OLTB]

1 down and feeling strong - not even tempted today...I feel more positive this time

Cheers, OLTB.

[Itsallaguess]

So, nearly 25% of November gone already, and I must say that things seem to be far easier this time around than they were 12 months ago, so I do think that I've benefited from that test last year, which also delivered a benefit in the time between also, in terms of my being much more laid-back about keeping constant tabs on my portfolio in general now, compared to how I've been in previous years.

I'm certainly not complacent however, as I remember there was a difficult dip later in the month last year, so I'm still vigilant and will guard against complacency.

I hope anyone else testing themselves this year is doing as well as they'd hoped to.

Good luck!

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[TahiPanasDua]

I think this is a useful exercise.

I used to check my portfolio several times a day when I first started investing and kept it up for a very long time. Now weeks can go by before I look. Probably the main reason for this transition was the slowly-dawning realisation that a diversified portfolio really can withstand almost anything that the market can throw at it. Having experienced big market drops and the seeming calamity of certain shares, I found that I came out the other end in remarkably good shape.

Most of us know that a well diversified portfolio is good protection but it may be that we have to actually experience several terror-inducing episodes before we can start to really believe it.

TP2.

[kempiejon]

...
Most of us know that a well diversified portfolio is good protection but it may be that we have to actually experience several terror-inducing episodes before we can start to really believe it.

TP2.

True, I've been aware of the value of diversification since my initial investments in trackers and those seasoned investors who have seen it all also know a well diversified portfolio will still suffer drops in times of hardship. Those who have not experienced those "terror-inducing episodes" might well find that getting used to the market can be hard bought experience.

[OLTB]

I must admit that similar to TP2, I'm finding this a bit of a breeze... looking back over the last year, there has been no critical point that I would need to know the value of my pension fund outside of the odd top-up that I would do from the build up of dividend accumulation. I haven't been tempted yet and if there was any news that I should need to know, then I can rely on the RNS and, indeed, you fools! Maybe it's because I'm in the building phase that I have taken a more laissez-faire attitude?

So, I am very confident that I shall make it through no-look November...

Cheers, OLTB.

[tjh290633]

Do you mean that you are reading IDP's RNS resumes on HYP Practical?

Surely that is cheating?

TJH

[Gengulphus]

Do you mean that you are reading IDP's RNS resumes on HYP Practical?

Surely that is cheating?

If so, where does 'cheating' stop? E.g. I tend to listen to the Radio 4 "Today" programme between 7 and 8 each morning, and there's a business news slot. If I were taking part in this challenge (which I'm not, for the same reasons as last year), would happening to have heard what was said about Marks & Spencers' interims be enough to constitute 'cheating'? Happening to get a new-thread notification with a thread title that actually reveals something about the results (*)? Etc, etc, etc...

(*) Rather than something that says nothing more than that it's about them, such as the actual "Marks & Spencer Half Yearly Report".

Gengulphus

[OLTB]

Do you mean that you are reading IDP's RNS resumes on HYP Practical?

Surely that is cheating?

TJH

Oh dear..

I hope not! The way I interpret the challenge is not to look at the balance/position of my SIPP for November. Being aware of various news stories to do with the constituents of my SIPP is allowed as I still am not aware of how these may impact these constituents.

I didn't inhale.

Cheers, OLTB.

[Itsallaguess]

Do you mean that you are reading IDP's RNS resumes on HYP Practical?

Surely that is cheating?

It's not clear who you're asking Terry, but I certainly wouldn't advocate a complete investment-news black-out being necessary for involvement in the 'No-Look-November' process.

I've not gone out to actively seek-out any particular financial news, as I think that would perhaps go against the spirit of the sabbatical, but I've also certainly not actively avoided any particular financial news that I might come across as part of my otherwise normal daily routines either...

The only routine that I'm actively trying to change with this process is the one where I habitually concentrate far too much on the contents and valuation of my portfolio, and I think so long as the spirit of that intent is followed (and we've already agreed in the past that there may well be extenuating circumstances where a brief excursion into portfolio-territory might well be necessary...), then I think that's about as much as we can expect during this process, to be fair.

Cheers,

Itsallaguess