Why You Shouldn't Follow the Stock Market Too Closely

I'm working on my Happiness Project, and you should have one, too! Everyone's project will look different, but it's the rare person who can't benefit. Join in -- no need to catch up, just jump in right now.

This has been a crazy week in the financial world. What's happening in the economy has consequences for everyone - for some people, very directly and immediately, for others, over the long term.

But no matter what it means to you, it's unnerving to see those stock market numbers crash down through new barriers, even when they climb back up.

On Monday, I kept checking the Dow number throughout the day. I realized that this activity wasn't useful, and it certainly wasn't happiness-inducing, but I couldn't resist. For the rest of the week, though, I managed to restrain myself, and I didn't check the numbers until the end of the day.

I drew a lesson from the contrast: don't keep checking the numbers. I'd been stoking my anxiety for no good reason. After all, I'm not going to respond to the information in any immediate way, and if my goal is to be a well-informed citizen, I can do that just as well by checking at the day's end to see what happened. Similarly, I'm avoiding reading or listening to the wild doomsday predictors. No one knows what will happen. There's value to reading a thoughtful analysis of the economic situation, but I don't need to spend my time listening to not-particularly-well-informed people speculate on various catastrophe scenarios.

The happiness challenge posed by the economic situation is severe, so it's a good idea not to add to the problem by constant, purposeless monitoring.

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Interested in starting your own Happiness Project? If you'd like to take a look at Gretchen Rubin's Resolutions Chart, for inspiration, just email her at grubin, then the "at" sign, then gretchenrubin dot com. No need to write anything more than "Resolutions Chart" in the subject line.

Comments

[Mildmannered]

You probably shouldn't anxiously follow the election polls too closely either.

[Sadducee]

Nothing to look at anymore.

[dgscol]

Well what bothers me is not the numbers, but people cajoling others to stay with the market no matter what. If they are smart they will move their stock to safer places, away from higher risk. The problem is that most people do not have a clue where their money is invested. I hope they go to find out. There is great uncertainty right now about Asian investments; half of all the bad securities are connected to this unilateral trade with a bad trading partner, that takes jobs away from all Americans.

I was surprised and shocked to see the numbers of people underemployed and without health care.

[rpr]

If you're looking at short term changes, you're speculating. If you only look at the long term outlook, you're investing.
So... anything but long term averages doesn't count.

[RobinSeattle]

I know the feeling, Gretchen. My thing isn't the stock market per se, but just the whole election thing and everything surrounding it. I am really stressing out about it and I just can't stay away from it. I will be so glad when this is over and I can get some sense of tranquility back.

[sonoffestus]

Let's keep it simple.............. only two things will happen. The market and economy will come back, or the world will experience the greatest meltdown ever.

See now you only have to worry about one thing. All the other little things don't matter. I do believe we're in for some very rough times, but I don't think we're dealing with the end of the world.

Feel better now...............I'm going for a walk , then some football.
They're still playing right?

[medon]

Sure just look at the long term view " the price of gold per ounce and the DOW will become equal. Just check in monthly or something. Betting your money on this historic measure will make you happy.