'No-look November'.....

[OLTB]

My name is OLTB and I've been free from viewing my portfolio for 10 hours 57 minutes. The urge is always there though. #onthewagon.

Cheers, OLTB.

[mickeypops]

Me too, guess I'm a portfoliolic!

[Itsallaguess]

My name is OLTB and I've been free from viewing my portfolio for 10 hours 57 minutes.

The urge is always there though.

#onthewagon.

Well, we're 51 minutes away from market-close on Day-1, and I've nearly managed to resist a full day of not looking at my portfolio.

To be fair, during working hours, that only really equates to missing a usual count of about three quick looks, so it's very early days yet.

That said, this is a tough task for anyone used to maintaining an almost constant vigilance over things, so I think a well-deserved pat on the back for us all is to be received.

In all honesty, my actual 'live-and-reactive' market actions has been almost nil in the past couple of years, and this is the main reason I wanted to ask myself why I really needed to keep a constant eye on things. I don't think I do, but I think the habit is so ingrained that I need to be able to test myself with this so that I've got a benchmark I can work to as I try to wean myself off the habit.

Well done to all. Onwards and upwards!

#onthewagon

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[Gengulphus]

I caved in already

I would have done the same if I'd been taking part, but fortunately I'm not! ;-) Looked at it to check what its Carillion loss is - not for any investment reason, but just because I wanted to illustrate a point in a post...

Gengulphus

[Raptor]

I am a portfoliolic and have been clean for 1 day......

[Raptor]

Seems that there is a problem with HYPTUSS anyway getting Yahoo prices. So "forced" abstention until that is resolved. Or did itsallaguess do it to stop us looking.

Raptor.

[StepOne]

I was just thinking the same thing Raptor. Can it really be a coincidence that the Yahoo API gets closed down on 1st Nov? I don't think so....!!

StepOne

[Itsallaguess]

Seems that there is a problem with HYPTUSS anyway getting Yahoo prices. So "forced" abstention until that is resolved. Or did itsallaguess do it to stop us looking.

Well, I'm very disappointed that Yahoo took so long to shut it all down, as I sent the email request with plenty of time! :O)

Day-2 then, and still not too much of an issue here. Quite excited as to what the portfolio might actually look like when I get to view it again, but other than that, it's not too much of a problem.

I'm sure we'll get the HYPTUSS tool working again soon, so for those struggling with the lack of Yahoo price-scrape functionality then hopefully it won't be out of action for too long.

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[CaptainFlack]

This is a great initiative. Checking share prices too frequently has become an obsession for me now for over a decade.

I only read this mid-morning on the 1st, and took steps immediately to remove access to share prices. I've been on the wagon since and holding up quite well. The temptation is extreme, but if I can get over the weekend, I think I'll be able to move to a checking regime less consuming.

I do have two or three divis due this month, so my plan now is to check and update stuff on 30 November. Once a month checking for a LTBH strategy really should suffice.

At the very least, I need to hold off longer that Itsallaguess.

Cheers.

Capt. Flack

[Itsallaguess]

This is a great initiative. Checking share prices too frequently has become an obsession for me now for over a decade.

I only read this mid-morning on the 1st, and took steps immediately to remove access to share prices. I've been on the wagon since and holding up quite well. The temptation is extreme, but if I can get over the weekend, I think I'll be able to move to a checking regime less consuming.

I do have two or three divis due this month, so my plan now is to check and update stuff on 30 November. Once a month checking for a LTBH strategy really should suffice.

At the very least, I need to hold off longer than Itsallaguess.

That's what I'm after - a good thrown-down challenge!!!

I'm in exactly the same boat as you CaptainFlack, in that I mentally hold up a LTBH strategy as being the best one I've tried, and I even practice that approach in real-terms, and manage to have no issues at all managing my portfolio in an almost completely hands-off approach in terms of the stocks themselves, and yet whilst doing so I seem to fail tremendously on the monitoring side of things.

Earlier in the year I asked myself what 'accidents' may have happened to my portfolio if I hadn't looked at it in the previous 12 month period, and I couldn't find a good reason why I needed to do so. That's the honest fact of the matter - my monitoring added no value at all the vast, vast majority of the time, and it had simply become a habit - a worry-bead in the form of a spreadsheet almost....

That then led to the idea of 'No-look November', and I just had to wait until the appropriately named month came around to launch the idea...

I challenge anyone else who thinks they carry out a LTBH strategy to ask themselves the same question -

What added value has your regular monitoring processes added to your strategy?

If the only answer is something vaguely mumbled about potentially 'missing a Carillion', then I think there are other ways to have found out about that incident without needing to carry out round-the-clock surveillance on our spreadsheets...

Good Luck CaptainFlack, I hope you do nearly as well as I do....

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

p.s Day-3 half-way over, and I must admit that I'm having to really fight the urge today....STAY STRONG!!!!

[Gengulphus]

...
At the very least, I need to hold off longer than Itsallaguess.

That's what I'm after - a good thrown-down challenge!!!

From a game-player's point of view, a somewhat careless challenge: Itsallaguess can guarantee winning by holding out until midnight on November 30th. Even if CaptainFlack does the same, he won't have held off longer and so he loses...

From a more practical and less pedantic point of view, perhaps the two of you should agree now how to deal with a midnight-on-November-30th dead heat, before it actually becomes an issue. Does Itsallaguess claim his win on a technicality, or do you agree an honourable draw, or does the challenge continue into December (and possibly beyond)? ;-}

Gengulphus

[CaptainFlack]

...
At the very least, I need to hold off longer than Itsallaguess.

That's what I'm after - a good thrown-down challenge!!!

From a game-player's point of view, a somewhat careless challenge: Itsallaguess can guarantee winning by holding out until midnight on November 30th. Even if CaptainFlack does the same, he won't have held off longer and so he loses...

From a more practical and less pedantic point of view, perhaps the two of you should agree now how to deal with a midnight-on-November-30th dead heat, before it actually becomes an issue. Does Itsallaguess claim his win on a technicality, or do you agree an honourable draw, or does the challenge continue into December (and possibly beyond)? ;-}

Gengulphus

Hmm, hadn't thought through the implications of November 30th. I had automatically assumed that Itsallaguess would cave in long before November 30th and as such I'd walk away relatively smug. The problem for me, is that I'll have one regular investment and some divis to add to the appropriate spreadsheets long before the 30th. Leaving it until some time next year will mean I'll end up spending half a day and probably get it wrong somewhere along the line.

Perhaps a last working day of the month clause can be inserted?

Cheers.

Capt. Flack

[TUK020]

I have two mechanisms that help me stop trying to check on the capital value of my portfolio all of the time:

a) I schedule a portfolio review in my todo list every 3 months, so that the app will remind me on my phone and computer when this is due (Wunderlist, in case anyone asks). Knowing that I have a set date to look at it detail removes the feeling of "when will I need to do something/anything?"

b) I have an online subscription to the Telegraph, mostly for the headline news, and also the business/economy/money section. Within the markets bit, there is a top 5 winners/top 5 losers in the stock market widget. This means at a glance, I can check if there are any of my shareholdings that are moving, and warrant a closer look as to why. This results in a very short looksee to check if further examination is necessary. It removes the inclination to rummage through the entire stock portfolio daily. It also results in a feeling of satisfaction the majority of days when none of my 30 stocks appear in the +- top five, reassuring me that I have a boring portfolio.

Then I move on the TLF pages.....
I also keep a running page of notes (on Google Keep) for my watch list, noting possible things to buy for my ISA, SIPP, and kids' ISAs.

I have looked at my portfolio in detail in Nov, but only checked on my Carillion holdings in the previous 2 months

[Itsallaguess]

...
At the very least, I need to hold off longer than Itsallaguess.

That's what I'm after - a good thrown-down challenge!!!

From a game-player's point of view, a somewhat careless challenge: Itsallaguess can guarantee winning by holding out until midnight on November 30th. Even if CaptainFlack does the same, he won't have held off longer and so he loses...

From a more practical and less pedantic point of view, perhaps the two of you should agree now how to deal with a midnight-on-November-30th dead heat, before it actually becomes an issue. Does Itsallaguess claim his win on a technicality, or do you agree an honourable draw, or does the challenge continue into December (and possibly beyond)? ;-}

Heh!, I like it, although given that we've got 27 more days to get through yet, I do wonder whether this will turn out to be a completely academic issue anyway!

If anyone is still hanging in by that time, then I think Gold medals all round will be the least we might expect....

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[Itsallaguess]

So, three days in, how's everyone doing?

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[OLTB]

I have locked myself in a room with tins of chicken soup a la Renton in Trainspotting.

I will admit to checking the share prices on my iPhone on the 'Stocks' app - just for interest on what individual shares/ITs have done that day, rather than looking at my portfolio to see what its overall value is. Is that cheating - I don't think so, but then again I would say that wouldn't I

No idea what my portfolio is worth over the last 4 days and TBH, it doesn't really matter as I'm 14 (max hopefully) years away from retirement!

Cheers, OLTB.

[Itsallaguess]

I have locked myself in a room with tins of chicken soup a la Renton in Trainspotting.

I will admit to checking the share prices on my iPhone on the 'Stocks' app - just for interest on what individual shares/ITs have done that day, rather than looking at my portfolio to see what its overall value is. Is that cheating - I don't think so, but then again I would say that wouldn't I

I'm not sure chicken-soup is going to be strong enough stuff to keep us going! I think perhaps Renton's other self-medication processes might be needed a bit further down the line!!

I'm afraid we're going to have to call it cheating, at least a little bit, because otherwise those of us that have managed without sneaking a peek at individual share-prices won't be able to feel quite so smug about that fact.....

That said, I think any steps at all to move from a position of constant-monitoring to something less persistent has to be applauded, so I hope you're able to keep it up. Again though, have you asked yourself if your sneak-peeks have mattered? If not, then does it need to be done quite so often?

No idea what my portfolio is worth over the last 4 days and TBH, it doesn't really matter as I'm 14 (max hopefully) years away from retirement!

And this is it. If you were retiring in six months, then I could understand a little more nervousness, but in 14 years time whatever is going on day-to-day, or week-to-week with your portfolio right now will be viewed as nothing more than noise, lost in the midst of time. 'Like tears in rain' type stuff, really....

Still, it's not easy. I found the first two days relatively straightforward, but I struggled Friday because that's when I take a weekly view of things at a HYP portfolio level normally, and so did miss that process more than the previous two days.

One day at a time, I think!

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[OLTB]

I'm afraid we're going to have to call it cheating, at least a little bit, because otherwise those of us that have managed without sneaking a peek at individual share-prices won't be able to feel quite so smug about that fact.....

Fair enough

I will refrain from opening my stocks app one day at a time...

Now, where's Mother Superior when I need him...

Cheers, OLTB.

[mickeypops]

I caved in at the weekend.... I mean - come on....... First interest rate hike in a decade. record FTSE100 close, all sorts of political shenanegans.... It just had to be done.....

[CaptainFlack]

I also found late Friday afternoon a challenge, and I've resisted over the entire weekend.

What I've found quite difficult with is news that mentions shares I hold. I'm also a news junkie and always have two free news feeds on the go. There was a news item last week about GSK, and I really wanted to see what effect it had had on my shares (generally none if past experience is to go by), but the urge was there.

I can do this, and count myself lucky that I can't remember the shares I hold that pay divis this month. This will stop me logging on looking for the divi coming in, and then impatiently waiting for the divi to be reinvested so I can update everything. Divis paid on Friday are excruciating due to the ridiculous wait over the weekend.

I will update my data at the end of November to encourage good record keeping, but my hope right now is that the end of the month is a nice surprise, rather than a nasty shock. The key point I need to bear in mind though, is that even if I had monitored throughout the entire month, I'd still have the same portfolio valuation as I wouldn't have acted on any share price fluctuations anyway.

Cheers.

Capt. Flack