How often do you check your brokerage accounts

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dougger5
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by dougger5 »

I check every day, and I'm ok with it, in terms of temperament. Sleep is not affected.

Twice a year I'll do a more rigorous check to see if any rebalance is warranted.
"I've been ionized, but I'm okay now." -Buckaroo Banzai
indexonlyplease
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by indexonlyplease »

Rarely.

I don't use the phone app for any accounts. So can't check there. Also all emails and text turned off on all accounts.
All bill are on auto so no need to check. Never had a problem.
I don't even have a budget. We have always been good with money so I don't want the hassel
Check investments rarely and not sure why I check them. In January of each yr look at reballacing.

Keeping it simple.
SQRT
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by SQRT »

I check my portfolio in real time every few hours using Yahoo finance. Look at the actual broker accounts every few days. Just habit I guess. Trade very infrequently but every quarter or so I sell a bit. In draw down mode. Haven’t bought a new name in years.
ColoRetiredGirl
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by ColoRetiredGirl »

Broken Man 1999 wrote: Sat Aug 11, 2018 7:24 pm
RagnarRahl wrote: Sat Aug 11, 2018 7:17 pm I have three brokerage accounts--Vanguard, Schwab and TD Ameritrade which came over from Scottrade. I re-balance quarterly. I look at the Schwab balance regularly because I bank with them. I'd like to ignore the other two except when I get ready to do my quarterly re-balancing. Vanguard and TDA send me emails when there is any activity. Do you think it is OK to ignore them for that period of time, or should I check on them every week or so? If you are an investor who re-balances that seldom, or even less, do you check your balances more frequently?
There isn't a day that goes by that I don't stop in to make sure all my $$$ are still home and working for me.

I don't ever do much, but I still like to do a welfare check on them.

I don't want them taking up with the wrong crowd.

Broken Man 1999
+1! Exactly my sentiments.
RollTide31457
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by RollTide31457 »

Check balances and recalculate net worth (house is not included of course) after good market days.
invst65
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by invst65 »

RollTide31457 wrote: Mon Aug 13, 2018 10:45 am Check balances and recalculate net worth (house is not included of course) after good market days.
I've resolved to check and re-balance only once a year and so far have kept to it except for peaking a few months ago. And in that case I succumbed to temptation on a good market day when things were going well and I expected to like what I saw. I you are a "hold the course" investor then really, what is the point of checking if you think it is going to upset your day and you aren't going to take any action (or be tempted to do so)?
Last edited by invst65 on Mon Aug 13, 2018 11:08 am, edited 2 times in total.
DetroitRick
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by DetroitRick »

Daily or more often as needed (executing a trade, getting documents, satisfying my curiosity, etc.). Unless you react badly to what you see, I don't see the problem with market watching. Just not to an excess where it serves no purpose, takes up too much time, or causes you to attach too much meaning to real-time market movements.

On the other hand, in light of potential security issues, I see value in at least a quick check every few days and/or a decent alert system for certain types of transactions (via text, email, Android/iphone notifications, Quicken, whatever). No way do I want to check my account twice a year and have to go back and get something straightened out. And not just for asset theft - I'm sure there are hackers out there that would love to put me in front-load funds :oops: .
Cycle
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by Cycle »

Check my personal capital app once per day, which has all the balances.

I manually log my net worth into a spreadsheet quarterly, which I think will be neat to look at in 10 years. Already pretty amazing to see it go from 700k in 2016 to 1.35MM in 2018. Doubling net worth in 2.5 years was not something I would have predicted considering we haven't had anything but standard 4% raises at megacorp and just do the 3-fund.
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miles monroe
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by miles monroe »

twice a week solely to check for fraud.
invst65
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by invst65 »

Cycle wrote: Mon Aug 13, 2018 11:06 am Check my personal capital app once per day, which has all the balances.
Every time I log into Personal Capital I find accounts where the balance hasn't been updated for a long time. This is always due to a failed login and usually involves some kind of new security feature that was added to the account - like asking for an answer to one of your secret questions. Sometimes there is no way to correct the situation but to delete the account and add it back in.

I should be thankful for this because the hassle helps me avoid the temptation to look.
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midareff
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by midareff »

Monthly... bond funds pay monthly and some reinvest, some send to bank and RMD's done monthly. I keep a sharp eye on all of it.
westie
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by westie »

3X a year
Mjar
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by Mjar »

weekly for fraud/move money into the account, monthly to re-calculate NW. Why?....it makes me happy to know where my future is headed. I don't lose sleep over bad days in the market as I am in for the long haul. I see bad days as a buying opportunity.
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Nate79
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by Nate79 »

Every few days to watch for transactions/fraud on all our accounts typically using mint app or brokerage apps.
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tuningfork
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by tuningfork »

Nearly every day I run Moneydance on my PC, which connects to my banking, credit card, and investment accounts, downloads any new transactions, and updates share prices. Very little effort on my part.

I mainly do this to verify and categorize all transactions while my memory is fresh. I do have email and in some cases SMS alerts for my accounts, but one of my credit card accounts for unknown reasons failed to send the notifications one month for an important scheduled transaction. And at least one of my cards does not send notifications for transactions below $10 so I don't trust the notifications 100%.

I glance at my total net worth balance in Moneydance to make sure it's still about what it was the last time I checked. If it's significantly larger or smaller than I expect, I check the news.

I rarely login directly to my accounts. Maybe once or twice a quarter, and usually just to check on something I saw on the BH forum (such as the new Vanguard layout).

On the first day of each quarter I run some Moneydance reports and transcribe the data into a spreadsheet that tracks my account balance history and asset allocation. If my AA is off by +/- 5% then I rebalance.
NextMil
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by NextMil »

Accounts are always open all day while I am at work, then once in the morning before work, and once after work. I really should make it a goal to do once a week or so.
3feetpete
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by 3feetpete »

When markets are rising, I check every day. When they are falling, I don't check at all. :D
Northern Flicker
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by Northern Flicker »

Taylor Larimore wrote: Sat Aug 11, 2018 7:23 pm RagnarRahl:

I do not have a brokerage account. Everything is held directly with Vanguard and in my checking account. I check my Vanguard balance for fraud or mistakes once or twice a year. Never had a problem.

Best wishes.
Taylor
How long do you have to report an account error once it is called to your attention on a quarterly statement?
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SpringMan
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by SpringMan »

Hats off to those the don't peek but that does not describe me. Remember that bad news does not get better with age.
Best Wishes, SpringMan
Ruger
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by Ruger »

I look at my total balance daily just to make sure nothing funny is going on.
Got a voice mail yesterday from my financial advisor at Fidelity wanting to know why I had moved my money out of Fidelity.
I had not made any such move, and knew from having checked my balance that morning everything was still there. Checking
it earlier saved me a lot of panic when I got the message (it was an error).
arf30
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by arf30 »

I recently enabled real time transaction alerts on all my banking, CC and brokerage accounts, it eliminated the urge to check them all the time.
gd
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by gd »

Chiming in just to note that this is one reason I don't use the download capabilities of Quicken. Used to be "frequently and compulsively". Now I check all financial accounts once a month, when I manually update month's activity in Quicken. Takes maybe 1/2 hour. During the compulsive checking era, I'd be watching current amounts and trivial short term changes, but remained mostly oblivious to longer trends and big pictures. Basic personal social engineering.
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ResearchMed
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by ResearchMed »

Ruger wrote: Wed Aug 15, 2018 7:05 am I look at my total balance daily just to make sure nothing funny is going on.
Got a voice mail yesterday from my financial advisor at Fidelity wanting to know why I had moved my money out of Fidelity.
I had not made any such move, and knew from having checked my balance that morning everything was still there. Checking
it earlier saved me a lot of panic when I got the message (it was an error).
What kind of "error" is that!?

:annoyed

It's not a minor thing...!

RM
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Taylor Larimore
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by Taylor Larimore »

jalbert wrote: Wed Aug 15, 2018 12:30 am
Taylor Larimore wrote: Sat Aug 11, 2018 7:23 pm RagnarRahl:

I do not have a brokerage account. Everything is held directly with Vanguard and in my checking account. I check my Vanguard balance for fraud or mistakes once or twice a year. Never had a problem.

Best wishes.
Taylor
How long do you have to report an account error once it is called to your attention on a quarterly statement?
jalbert:

Sorry, I don't know. My guess is that there is no time limit for for reporting account errors. Try contacting Vanguard.

Best wishes.
Taylor
"Simplicity is the master key to financial success." -- Jack Bogle
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abuss368
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by abuss368 »

Taylor Larimore wrote: Thu Aug 16, 2018 11:14 am
jalbert wrote: Wed Aug 15, 2018 12:30 am
Taylor Larimore wrote: Sat Aug 11, 2018 7:23 pm RagnarRahl:

I do not have a brokerage account. Everything is held directly with Vanguard and in my checking account. I check my Vanguard balance for fraud or mistakes once or twice a year. Never had a problem.

Best wishes.
Taylor
How long do you have to report an account error once it is called to your attention on a quarterly statement?
jalbert:

Sorry, I don't know. My guess is that there is no time limit for for reporting account errors. Try contacting Vanguard.

Best wishes.
Taylor
On most account statements the timeframe is usually noted in the fine print. I am unsure if this fluctuates based on the type of account.
John C. Bogle: “Simplicity is the master key to financial success."
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Earl Lemongrab
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by Earl Lemongrab »

Taylor Larimore wrote: Thu Aug 16, 2018 11:14 am
jalbert wrote: Wed Aug 15, 2018 12:30 am How long do you have to report an account error once it is called to your attention on a quarterly statement?
jalbert:

Sorry, I don't know. My guess is that there is no time limit for for reporting account errors. Try contacting Vanguard.
That doesn't sound like a good guess to me.

The very first "responsibility" listed in their fraud policy is
Review your accounts regularly.

Check your account frequently. Promptly and completely review all information we send you.
Report any errors or discrepancies in your account and any suspected unauthorized transactions or account changes to
Vanguard immediately.

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/help/S ... ontent.jsp
bikechuck
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by bikechuck »

I check everything monthly, update a spreadsheet where I keep track of my consolidated allocation and rebalance if and as necessary. I rarely rebalance as I only do so if my allocation moves materially (by more than 3 % or so) otherwise I leave things alone.

I retired in mid 2017 and my wife at the end of 2017. We are still in the process of consolidating the various pretax 401Ks, IRAs, Roths etc into fewer investment companies. Once we have this down to three or four I might check things more frequently but I doubt that I will ever do so more than once a week.

I will never consolidate to a single investment company as I am too concerned about cyber attacks and systems failures. I know that even if this did happen it would likely eventually get sorted out but I want access to some funds if necessary as things are getting sorted out.
jehovasfitness
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Re: How often do you check your brokerage accounts

Post by jehovasfitness »

Daily since I use the MINT app and have them linked
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