3 Things: Don’t look at your portfolio, say no to themed funds, and dealing with market pullbacks

Don’t look at your portfolio – and here is why

1. How to Improve Your Risk-Adjusted Returns (The Irrelevant Investor, 4/11/2019)

“The more you look at your portfolio, the more likely you are to see red, and the more likely you are to see red, the more likely you are to do something you will regret later. This can be seen clearly in the GIF below, courtesy of Nick Maggiulli.”

Graphic Courtesy of Nick Maggiulli

You don’t need themed funds

2. The Space-Age Fund, Genomics Fund and Other Concoctions from ETF Alchemists (Forbes, 4/11/2019)

“You know about the winners because they shine. You don’t know about the flops because they go into a black hole. What would John Bogle say if he were alive? He’d tell you to quit dreaming of beating the market.”

Why do we deal with market pullbacks so poorly?

3. Why Routine Stock-Market Declines Make Investors Crazy (Bloomberg, 4/10/2019)

“The psychology surrounding stock-market declines and recoveries is fascinating. Anytime markets retreat even a little bit, the noise surrounding the event begins to swell. Given how frequently markets twist and turn, you might expect people would be used to the occasional plunge by now.

Alas, that simply is not the way human emotions and memory work.”

SAGE Serendipity:  We often use this space to talk about space! Outer space that is. Here is a great tool Sync your calendar with the solar system, from the Science section of The New York Times.  It will add the calendar to your Google or IOS  Calendar.  Beginning  on April 21 the Lyrids meteor shower will peak!