How does checking your investment regularly impact your investment goals?

Francois le Clus • May 4, 2026

Whether we like it or not, we are emotionally attached to our finances, especially our investments. I understand this because I also fall into this trap, even though I’m a financial professional. March was not a fun month for me or just about any investor in the world. We saw significant downward movements in markets across the globe, and there was nowhere to hide except cash. It also didn’t help that I checked regularly on my portfolio’s performance. I was shocked, even though I knew it was bad, but I found solace in the fact that markets will recover again, and this was short-term. The funny thing was that my portfolio was still up year-to-date, and I was still up, but I anchored the investment value and saw the past month’s investment performance as a loss, but I was still in the money.


I fell into two traps. I anchored a number, and I had given in to myopic loss aversion.

What Myopic loss aversion? Simply put, Investors feel losses more strongly than gains (loss aversion). This led me to experience anxiety and consider making a change to my portfolio’s. (Luckily I didn’t).


This led my into doing some more research into markets and how they behave on a daily, monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis. I was quite shocked by the data and how I could potentially sabotage my portfolio.


When looking at the S&P 500 and the JSE, you can see data that is very closely correlated with each other. When looking at the daily performance of the indices over the past 15 years, you would see that the S&P 500 had positive 53% of trading days and negative 47%. When looking at the JSE on a daily basis, you would see 51% to 53% positive days and 47% to 49% negative days.

Even in strong bull markets, almost half of all days are negative. Returns are driven by a relatively small number of strong up days.

When looking at monthly performance, the S&P had 60%–65% positive months vs 35%-40% negative months. The JSE had 56% positive months vs 44% negative months. You can already start to see how the data is moving in a more positive direction.

When looking at quarterly performance, the picture becomes even better. The S&P delivered Positive quarters between 65%–70% and negative quarters between 30%-35%. When looking at the JSE, it delivered positive quarters between 55%–65% and negative quarters between 35%-40%.


When looking at the yearly performance, the S&P delivered 75%-80% positive months vs 25%-30% negative returns. The JSE delivered 60%-70% positive years vs 40%-30% negative years.


Losses at the yearly level are relatively infrequent but can be sharp.

The pattern becomes very clear:

The longer the timeframe, the higher the probability of a positive return. Short-term volatility is normal and persistent. Long-term returns are driven by compounding and upward drift.


Practical interpretation (important)

Volatility is constant. Even in strong years, many days and months are negative. This is why timing the market is extremely difficult.

Time horizon is everything

-       Daily investing feels like a coin flip.

-       Long-term investing becomes probability in your favour.


Best days matter disproportionately

Missing a handful of strong positive days can materially reduce returns.


Side-by-side summary

What does the data show?

Daily checking increases perceived losses dramatically

A well-known finding:

If you check your portfolio:

Daily → you’ll see losses ~40–45% of the time

Annually → losses drop to ~20–25% of the time

Same investment, completely different emotional experience.


Frequent checkers are more likely to make bad decisions

Research and industry data show:

Investors who monitor portfolios frequently:

-       Trade more

-       React to short-term volatility

Are more likely to:

-       Sell during downturns

-       Miss recoveries


How do these behaviours negatively impact your investment performance?

Studies (by Morningstar) estimate that the average investor underperforms their own investments by 1% to 2% due to poor timing decisions and emotional reactions.


Less frequent monitoring improves outcomes.

Investors who check less often tend to stay invested longer, experience less stress, make fewer emotional decisions and this leads to better compounding and more consistent long-term results.


Markets behave like this:

Short-term → noisy, unpredictable

Long-term → upward trending

But, If you check daily, your brain interprets investing as “Constant losses and risk” vs yearly checking your brain will experience “Mostly positive progress”.


For long-term investors:

Ideal review frequency: Quarterly or semi-annually

Avoid: Daily or weekly checking

Focus on: Long-term goals, Asset allocation, not short-term performance


Bottom line

Frequent monitoring does not improve returns. It increases stress and poor decision-making

The best investors are often those who:

-       Check less

-       React less

-       Stay invested


In simple terms:

The more often you look, the more risk you feel — even if the actual long-term risk hasn’t changed.

Selfontwikkeling is belangrik vir ons menswees

April 29, 2026
Die woord “aftrede” is ‘n skrikwekkende woord wat jou maag laat rondtol. Wat bekommewekkend is die woordjie “stagnasie” – ‘n vrees wat met aftrede geassosieer kan word. Selfontwikkeling is nie ‘n luukse wat slegs vir sekere fases van ons lewenreis gereserveer is nie; dit is ‘n noodsaaklike en lewenslange proses wat die kwaliteit van ons menslike bestaan bepaal. In ‘n wêreld wat voortdurend verander – tegnologies, sosiaal en ekonomies – kan stilstand maklik tot agteruitgang lei. Miskien is selfontwikkeling juis te meer belangrik vir afgetredenes – dit is ‘n proses waardeer alledaagse betrokkenheid en sinvolle gesprek die waarde van jou menslike bestaan inderdaad bevestig, ondersteun en instand hou. Selfontwikkeling dra by tot persoonlike groei en selfkennis. Deur nuwe vaardighede aan te leer, kursusse te volg of bloot oor eie ervarings te reflekteer, leer jy jouself beter ken. Hierdie selfkennis help met beter besluitneming. Iemand wat byvoorbeeld besef dat hy/sy swak is in tydsbestuur, kan doelbewus strategieë ontwikkel om dit te verbeter. Vir jonger mense kan selfontwikkeling help in hulle beroepsloopbane. Deesdae met die spronge in tegnologie, is aanpasbaarheid vir nuwe uitdagings ‘n groot vereiste. Vaardighede wat vandag relevant is, kan môre verouderd wees. Deur voortdurend te leer en aan te pas, bly ‘n persoon mededingend en waardevol, spesifiek ook in jou werksomgewing. Die kern van selfontwikkeling lê in ingesteldheid. ‘n Mens moet nooit glo dat jy “klaar” is nie. Selfs op ‘n hoë ouderdom kan jy nuwe vaardighede aanleer, nuwe perspektiewe ontdek en nuwe verhoudinge bou. Hierdie ingesteldheid verhoed byvoorbeeld dat aftrede ‘n eindpunt word; dit maak dit eerder ‘n nuwe begin.  Wanneer ‘n mens stagneer, verloor jy nie net jou kreatiewe energie nie, maar ook jou vermoë om sin en betekenis in jou daaglikse bestaan te vind. Elke daad van groei is ‘n daad van vernuwing, en hou die gees jonk. Om te stagneer is om jou menswees te verwaarloos; om te groei is om jou menswees te eer. Selfontwikkeling hou die vlam van betekenis aan die brand, en dit is die vlam wat die mens se lewensreis tot die einde toe verlig. Geksryf deur Koos van die Waterberge vir Bovest

Never let a Crisis go to Waste

By Ruvan J Grobler • March 31, 2026
In a quiet corner of a garden, a tiny egg rested beneath a leaf, unnoticed by the world. In time, it hatched into a caterpillar—small, vulnerable, and endlessly hungry. Day after day, it consumed everything in its path, growing rapidly but remaining earthbound, exposed to every passing threat. Then, without warning, it stopped. It found a still place, attached itself to a branch, and formed a chrysalis. From the outside, it looked lifeless—fragile, even pointless. To an observer, it might have seemed like the end of its journey. But inside, everything was changing. The caterpillar was breaking down completely, dissolving into something unrecognizable before slowly rebuilding itself into something entirely new. Time passed. When the chrysalis finally opened, the creature that emerged was no longer confined to the ground. Its wings were soft at first, uncertain. It struggled, pushing fluid through them, strengthening them with effort. Only after this resistance could it take flight. And when it did, it soared—no longer bound by the limitations of its former life but shaped by every stage that came before. It’s been six years since humanity’s last global threat, the Covid pandemic. A lot has changed, but we as people have not. Just as the butterfly in the story above goes through its cycle the global economy does too. But the butterfly does not know its going through this cycle, its merely following its path. We are very aware of the cycle as it has an effect on our every day lives especially on our finances. But just as the butterfly follows its path, we do too. Focus on what you can control. We often stress the issues out of our own control and isn’t exclusive to finances. Not a single person reading this article has any control of the global economy and the current conflict in the Middle East. None of us also knew exactly when it would happen and when it is going to end. Don’t get me wrong, I too struggle to manage my thoughts and emotions when we go through the tough parts. Shifting the focus towards finances; except for being in control of how you earn an income, the only other factor you can control is your spending. Stick to your budget! Never stop investing! Stay disciplined! Crisis Asset Allocation I get many questions on what we are doing to manage risk and potential losses. This is where financial planning becomes extremely important. Every single investment in your portfolio is linked to a need or a goal, not just any goal but a time-based goal. This specific time horizon has influenced the type of assets bought in order to reach these goals. The longer away the goal, the more risk is taken and vice versa. Investments where liquidity is needed will be affected much less than a long-term share portfolio. More liquidity, less risk. Meaning that if you need cashflow you should not be worried as the asset exposure will be less affected. Retirement products will have exposure to many different assets where there are conservative assets to provide protection in the short-term. The growth asset exposure that may be volatile now is the part that gives you the long-term inflation beating returns. During this part of the cycle certain assets have become less desirable and opportunities have popped up elsewhere. All portfolios are monitored to make sure that the original mandate is followed, and the investment goal is reached at the end of the applicable term. All asset managers have started to make asset allocation changes to match the changing of the cycle and the Bovest investment committee has also done so. Is it time to sell and move to cash? In short, no. We don’t know when markets will turn and no one else either. Historically in these crises it takes on average around two weeks to reach the bottom of the market and then more than a month to recover. This does create many buying opportunities for asset managers but also for you as investor. Warren Buffet always says, "Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful" . This is the time to buy assets on “sale”, don’t sell them. Getting out of the market is the biggest risk, this is where investors lose money. Stick to the plan and stay patient, you will be rewarded. Ruvan J Grobler RFP™ (PGDip Financial Planning)