If you’re like most people, you probably think of daily stock tracking as something only professional investors need to worry about. But the truth is, anyone who owns stocks should be tracking them on a regular basis.
Why? Because by tracking your stocks, you can minimize risk and maximize opportunity. By knowing what’s going on with your stocks, you’ll be in a better position to make informed decisions about when to buy, sell, or hold. In other words, tracking your stocks can help you make more money!
If you’re not tracking your stocks, you’re flying blind.
One of the most important benefits of tracking stocks is that it can help you manage risk more effectively. By keeping an eye on the developments, you can exit losing positions sooner and cut your losses short. This is especially important in these market conditions where fundamental assumptions and valuations are being reassessed. If you don’t track you may miss an opportunity to sell and end up holding onto an underperforming investment for far longer than you should.
Following your stocks can also help you take advantage of opportunities when they arise. If you see that a stock in your portfolio is outperforming the market, you may want to hold onto it for a longer period or even buy more shares. If a stock is underperforming, knowing the underlying reasons will help you decide whether to sell or hold onto it in hopes that it will rebound.
That’s easier said than done.
Most investors will check their portfolio(s) on their brokerage app for current prices and profit/loss. Then head to an aggregator like Yahoo or Google Finance for research and context, then lookup analysis for specific stocks on sites like Motley Fool or Seeking Alpha. For a list of stocks, like a diversified portfolio, this can be extremely time-consuming. It’s no wonder that most investors only check their stocks a few times a month and dig into the news stream on specific stocks after a move has occurred. That’s obviously too late in most cases.
StockHawk is a next-generation stock tracking tool that aggregates news, analysis, and financial data from hundreds of sources. Then ranks, curates, and shapes it into a neat personal daily email summary with bite-sized updates.
It saves investors the daily sacrifice of time and attention it currently takes to keep up. By staying in the loop, investors are in a radically better position to minimize risks and maximize opportunities.
There are significant benefits to tracking your stocks, including lowering risks and maximizing opportunity, but the cost in time and attention can make it impossible without the right tool.
If you’re not already tracking your investments, now is the time to start!