I have convinced myself not to check my portfolio every day as I have been doing for quite some time simply to avoid the emotional and panicky roller coaster of the past few months. I am interested in hearing the perspective of others concerning the monitoring of their portfolios. How often should a person check their progress to ensure rational decisions and concrete signs of progress?
some of my coworkers check on their stocks multiple times a day and are obsessed with financial news. Their home pages are set to yahoo finance and overall they seem pretty neurotic and anxious, hanging on every last word of analysts and bloggers. Judging from their behavior and the effect all of this has on them, I am fairly certain this can't be too good for you.
You will just work yourself up into making irrational decisions by checking your portfolio everyday, regardless of whether you own a single stock or have a 401(k). I guess it would depend what I owned and in what time of account to determine how closely it needed to be monitored. The best investors are those you make rational decisions by keeping a cool head. Just remember, Panic never made anyone a dime, unless you're profiting off of someone else's panic. (e.g. Warren Buffett) With all honestly, the most important thing to remember that stocks the parts of companies and companies need time to see their visions though.
I check every day.
You should probably check weekly, I would imagine.