If i have investments like stock, mutual funds, index funds and REIT's do i need to watch cnbc everyday?

Answer 1

No.

Answer 2

Just look at SPY which is an ETF that tracks the SP 500, which is the benchmark used by most mutual funds. Another index used for small cap mutuals is the Russell 2000. If your investments are not beating either, you can get index funds that will track them and in fact there are some more mutual funds track those indexes, called trackers, that prey on people that don't know about or don't have the money to buy into index funds.

Answer 3

Definitely not. In fact, you probably shouldn't. It sounds like your investments are pretty diversified, which is good. It's dangerous to watch the market every day and try to move your money around all of the time. Mostly because it's almost impossible for regular people to know enough about all of these investments to stay on top of what's happening. There are lots of people whose job it is to specialize and know everything about all of the sub-categories of these investments. And they have a lot more information than most of us can hope to find; a lot that we don't even have access to. The other reason is that, in moving your money around all of the time, you incur a lot of transaction costs. People often don't think about this aspect of investing, but transaction costs will very quickly eat into any investing profits. So even if you're good enough to know more than most people and do better than average (very hard to do), you'll probably end up worse off at the end of the day from the transaction costs. The very, very best investors will beat the market index by just a few % points consistently - hardly worth spending all of your time watching CNBC even if you're one of the best investors out there. And by the time something hits CNBC, most people in-the-know have already traded on the information, so you're too late anyway.

Stay diversified, and stay passive. Look at your portfolio every 6 months or year, and decide if it has the right risk/return profile for you. If not, shift it around a bit. But aside from that, just leave it in these investments and forget about it - that's the best thing you can do. I have no connection to Vanguard at all, but I recommend their mutual funds if you're not sure where to put your money - they have a good reputation and have very low transaction costs.

Answer 4

Aside from their advertisers who have a defined self interest, no one "needs" to watch CNBC every day, or at all for that matter. And, if to do so you are forgoing remunerative activities such as working or pleasurable ones such as spending time with family and friends, then I'd say, turn off the damn TV. That said, CNBC's "journalists" do offer up good updates on market activity, generally reliable summaries of breaking news, and the occasional interesting interview -- most of which can be had on the 'net of course with considerably less hassle from adverts. When I work from home I generally have it on in the background. HOWEVER, just be aware that every minute of every day they are working very hard to deliver a product to their advertisers; namely, YOU, as audience. So, their job is to make the market as exciting as the new neighbor's young wife and keep you on the edge of your seat with the adrenaline button in the permanent "on" position. Studies show that excited consumers make for better ad watchers. It's all about selling. So, watch CNBC if you'd like some entertainment -- they do have pretty anchors, don't they? But don't make decisions solely on what they're saying.

By the way, I assume you are talking about the daytime CNBC, which focuses on the market, yes? Not, Keith Olbermann in the evening :-)

Good luck,

- clamosaurus

Answer 5

not if you are investing for retirement or some other event that is several years away. if you are investing for something that is several years away you are better off not keeping up with the market at all. this is because we has humans have a tendency to make emotional decisions. if you see the market dropping you are likely to try to move your money or pull out of the market. which is exactly what you don't want to do. when the price of stock is dropping you must look at it as if it is going on sale. no matter what the market does continue to buy shares. what matters most in the end is how many shares you have, not the price of each share. read the link below about dollar cost averaging.

Answer 6

(1) Diversified low cost index funds. (2) No load mutual funds (3) Individual stocks In order of preference for a beginning investor with (1) being best and 3 being worst.

Answer 7

no, you don't. if you invest for long term, you can ignore the short term fluctuations. however, it is good if you can update with the market once a while to give you some picture how the overall economy is doing. or keep in touch with the stock that you bought, just monitor their business, not stock price though.

business news like cnbc and bloomberg is so important to traders that they need the information for their every second trading decisions.

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