Watching the PP work

[EM2]

I started my PP in April, and I'm almost finished with the allocations (just some tweaking between gold and cash still being done).  Prior to deciding to go almost all into PP I had been in cash (Treasury MM) and some precious metals and energy ETFs for years.  Missed the whole run-up since 2009, but also the preceding crash. Besides the ETFS, no other stocks except those I inherited a couple of years ago and am still pondering .

So in the last few weeks, I've been watching my TSM fund drop. Since it's all in one place, it's easier to eyeball than the bonds, which are tucked into various tax-deferred spaces.  Yikes.  Down almost 10K in just a few weeks! Wasn't considering doing anything about it, but feeling kind of uneasy.  This morning I looked over the bonds, and discovered that they have more than balanced out the loss-- I was actually up a bit, around 2K, and of course there's the tax-deferred interest to look forward to. 

Interesting to see the plan in action...  But I think I'll try to stop checking for a while.

[MediumTex]

It's pretty neat.

For a lot of people, it's probably the first really positive investing experience they've ever had.

[Roy]

I started my PP in April, and I'm almost finished with the allocations (just some tweaking between gold and cash still being done).  Prior to deciding to go almost all into PP I had been in cash (Treasury MM) and some precious metals and energy ETFs for years.  Missed the whole run-up since 2009, but also the preceding crash. Besides the ETFS, no other stocks except those I inherited a couple of years ago and am still pondering .

So in the last few weeks, I've been watching my TSM fund drop. Since it's all in one place, it's easier to eyeball than the bonds, which are tucked into various tax-deferred spaces.  Yikes.  Down almost 10K in just a few weeks! Wasn't considering doing anything about it, but feeling kind of uneasy.  This morning I looked over the bonds, and discovered that they have more than balanced out the loss-- I was actually up a bit, around 2K, and of course there's the tax-deferred interest to look forward to. 

Interesting to see the plan in action...  But I think I'll try to stop checking for a while.

Hi, EM.

For a long time (seems ages ago), and based on the advice of experts, like Bogle, Swedroe, et al, I didn't "portfolio peek", scrutinize assets, didn't listen to CNBC; basically, I tuned-out the noise via holding my hands over my ears and making loud noises, because experts who did themselves peek told me not to peek.  But market information was so prevalent that I'd hear stuff in passing, and from clients, and even while listening to sports talk shows, such that I came to know anyway.  And I could not see how one can monitor investing forums and not know what was happening among the asset classes, at least in general volatility.

And there were other personal considerations.  One, I am curious. And I want to try and get a sense of how various assets could work compared with each other (even over short periods).  Two, nothing focuses attention like having money on the table.  Three, being from the Bronx, I share the Colonel Kurtz belief that one must become a friend of horror, else it becomes something to be feared, so I watched the asset classes daily.

Today, much later, things have become less interesting to watch (though hearing the various predictions and narratives are amusing), and I have become desensitized to horror, and also at peace with the nature of tracking error regret.  Basically, I no longer care very much about what's going on (outside of good discussion).  But I arrived there because I once cared with great intent.  Of course, that is just my way, not necessarily my recommendation.