SIX WAYS TO EASILY MONITOR YOUR INVESTMENTS

How to Track Your Investments

Two key parts of investing are how much money you contribute and how your investments perform. Tracking that performance will show you how much more money you need to put in to to hit your investing goals. But how important is monitoring your investment performance? Should it be done on an annual, quarterly, monthly, or weekly basis? Or should you just leave well enough alone and just keep investing your funds periodically?

Why You Should Track Your Investments

There are two great reasons to keep tabs on your investments, keeping the right balance of investments in your portfolio and tracking progress towards your goals.

Know When to Rebalance

It’s recommended that you rebalance your investments at least once per year to keep your asset allocation in line with your investment risk profile. Take the mix of stocks and bonds in your portfolio for example. If your goal is to have 70% of your investments in stocks and 30% in bonds, it won’t exactly be that amount every day. If stocks skyrocket, your balance might swing to 77% stocks and 23% bonds. Rebalancing is selling off some of the stock investments and reinvesting the dollars into bond investments to get back to a 70%/30% mix. If you don’t monitor your investments, you won’t know how badly your investments need rebalancing.

Track Progress Towards Your Investing Goals

Without knowing how your investments are performing, how can you track your progress toward your retirement goal? If you have a great stretch of years with large growth in your investments that puts you ahead of your goals you might decide to invest some of your retirement savings in something other than the stock market. On the other hand, if your investments have poor performance you might need to put more dollars in every year. If you aren’t tracking those investments you don’t know whether or not you need to adjust your investment strategy.

Why You Shouldn’t Monitor Your Investments

Keeping tabs on your investments is a great thing, but you can easily overdo it. Constantly monitoring your investments can be an emotional drain and can cause you to make rash decisions.

Emotional Reactions

The stock market and your portfolio are going to have regular ups and downs. Sometimes severe ups and downs. The worst thing you can do when your portfolio takes a serious change is to panic. If you are constantly monitoring your investments, you are more apt to try and make constant changes. You are better served to set a steady course and not panic when things change drastically overnight.

So we’ve looked at the good and bad implications of keeping regular tabs on your investments. now we’ll talk about a few different ways to track your investments.

Investment Brokerage Firm

The easiest way to monitor your investments is through your brokerage firm or mutual fund company. Since they hold your investments, this requires the least amount of setup, they have a record of what you own and report on it.  Some fund companies make tracking tools available even if you don’t hold investments through them – for example the T Rowe Price Portfolio Manager.

Whether through paper statements or online, you should be able to get access to your short and long term performance through your brokerage account. Online access is obviously easier, but you have to be careful that you don’t become obsessed with checking it every single day. One nice thing about keeping your paper statements is that you can sit down with 12 months or even several years of statements and look back at how your money has performed.

Continue reading this email at MoneySmartLife.com after the break!

 

Violent relationships likely detrimental to good parenting

Couples who are married or living together will probably have more trouble parenting as a team if they have been violent toward one another during pregnancy, according to a team of psychologists.

"This finding is helpful because working as a parenting team, in what we call the co-parenting relationship, is a key influence on everything from mothers' postpartum depression to sensitive parenting to the children's emotional and social adjustment," said Mark E. Feinberg, research professor, Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development at Penn State.

Researchers interviewed 156 expectant couples at three different times -- once before the baby was born, again about six months after the birth of the child and a final time, when the baby was approximately 13 months old. The interviews determined the degree of physical violence between couples prior to the birth of the baby and how well couples were able to act as a team while parenting, after the baby was born.

"The results suggest that working with couples to curtail or prevent violence in their relationships before the birth of their child may have positive implications for the development of co-parenting relationships after the child is born," said the researchers.

The researchers reported in the current issue of the Journal of Family Issues that 29.8 percent of mothers acted violently at least once in the past year, while 17.3 percent of fathers acted violently. Finding mothers to be more violent than fathers is not an uncommon discovery in average community samples, according to the researchers.

"In our sample it seemed to be the 'common couple' type of violence that occurred, not the controlling and severe abuse that people think of when they think of domestic violence," said Marni L. Kan, Ph.D. recipient in human development and family studies at Penn State, now a research psychologist with RTI International in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

Common couple violence incidents are fairly high, especially for couples with young children, Feinberg said. This type of violence is characterized by actions like shoving, slapping and hitting and is usually not intended to control the partner but occurs out of frustration in the middle of an argument. Both partners are equally likely to participate in common couple violence.

"It is important to pay attention to prenatal violence and risk, because low levels of violence among couples may get worse with the stress of parenting small children," said Feinberg. "And there's a lot of overlap between couple violence and child maltreatment."

Only expectant couples were eligible to enroll in the study. Each individual completed a form that asked a series of questions about physical aggression and behavior in the couple's relationship -- such as, did you push or shove your partner? Did you choke your partner? Did you twist your partner's arm?

Questions were each answered with a frequency measure -- did this behavior happen zero times in the past year? Five times in the past year? More than 20 times in the past year?

The participants answered questions pertaining to both their own behavior and their partner's behavior.

After the child was born, participants filled out another survey that looked at the co-parental alliance. Participants were asked to rate whether statements were true for their relationship, such as, "My partner and I have the same goals for our child," "My relationship with my partner is stronger now than before we had a child," and "My partner does not trust my parenting abilities." The higher the score a couple received, the better they were determined to be at parenting as a team.

"A unique element of our research is that we included couples," said Kan. "A lot of research on violence focuses on female victims. Also, having both parents followed after the birth of the child is unique. Often the moms are reporting, but the dads don't have a say."

Provided by Pennsylvania State University

"Violent relationships likely detrimental to good parenting." March 2nd, 2012. http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-03-violent-relationships-detrimental-good-parenting.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

தமிழின் சிறப்புணர்த்தும் அடைமொழிகள்.

1)அந்தமிழ்:- அம் + தமிழ் = அழகிய தமிழ் 2)அருந்தமிழ்:- அருமை + தமிழ் = அருமைபாடுடைய தமிழ் 3)அழகுதமிழ்:- எல்லாவகையிலும் அழகுநலம் மிக்க தமிழ் 4)அமுதத்தமிழ்:- அமுதம் போன்று வாழ்வளிக்கும் தமிழ் 5)அணித்தமிழ்:- அணிநலன்கள் அமைந்த தமிழ், தமிழினம் பெருமிதமுறும் அணியாக இலங்கும் தமிழ் 6)அன்னைத்தமிழ்:- நம் அன்னையாகவும் மொழிகளுக்கெல்லாம் அன்னையாகவும் விளங்கும் தமிழ் 7)இசைத்தமிழ்:- முத்தமிழில் ஒரு பிரிவு (இசை மொழியின் கூறாவது ஏனைய மொழிகளுக்கு இல்லாத சிறப்பு) 8)இயற்றமிழ்:- முத்தமிழின் மற்றொரு பிரிவு. ஆயகலை அறுபத்து நான்கும் அவற்றின் வழிவந்தனவும் உணர்த்தும் அறிவுநூல்கள் அடங்கியது 9)இன்றமிழ்:- இனிக்கும் தமிழ் (ஒலிக்க, உரைக்க, சிந்திக்க, செவிமடுக்க, எழுத, இசைக்க என எதற்கும் இனியது) 10)இன்பத் தமிழ்:- இன்பூட்டும் ஒலியமைப்பும் மொழியமைப்பும் இலக்கண இலக்கிய மரபும் கொண்டு, கற்பவர்க்கு எஞ்ஞான்றும் இன்பம் பயப்பது. 11)எந்தமிழ்:- எம் + தமிழ் (கால்டுவெல், போப்பு போன்ற பிறமொழிச் சான்றோரும், கற்றதும் ‘எந்தமிழ்’ என்று பெருமித உரிமை பாராட்டும் தமிழ்) 12)உகக்குந்தமிழ்:- மகிழ்ச்சியளிக்கும் தமிழ் 13)ஒண்டமிழ்:- ஒண்மை + தமிழ் (அறிவின் செறிவும் நுட்பமும் கொண்டு ஒளிதரும் தமிழ்) 14)கனித்தமிழ்:- கனிகள் போன்ற இயற்கைச் சுவையுடைய தமிழ் 15)கற்கண்டுத்தமிழ்:- கற்கண்டு கடிதாய் இருப்பினும் சுவைக்கச் சுவைக்கக் கரைந்து இனிமை தருவது போல, அடர்ந்து செறிந்த நிலையிலும் மாந்தமாந்த மேலும் மேலும் இன்பம் பயக்கும் தமிழ் 16)கன்னித் தமிழ்:- எந்நிலையிலும் தனித்தன்மை கெடாமலும் இளமைநலம் குன்றாமலும் விளங்கும் தமிழ் 17)சங்கத்தமிழ்:- மன்னர்களாலும் புலவர்களாலும் சங்கங்கள் அமைத்துப் போற்றி வளர்க்கப்பட்டத் தமிழ் 18)சுடர்தமிழ்:- அறிவுக்கும் உணர்வுக்கும் சுடர்தரும் தமிழ் 19)சுவைத்தமிழ்:- சொற்சுவை, பொருட்சுவை, கலைச்சுவை, கருத்துச்சுவை என எல்லாச் சுவையும் செறிந்தது 20)செந்தமிழ்:- செம்மை + தமிழ் = எல்லா வகையிலும் செம்மை உடையது         (செந்தமிழ் தகைமையால் அன்றே செந்தமிழ் எனப்பட்டது தமிழ்) 21)செழுந்தமிழ்:- செழுமை + தமிழ் – வளம் குன்றாத தமிழ் 22)தனித்தமிழ்:- தன்னேரிலாத தனித்தன்மை வாய்ந்த தமிழ் 23)தண்டமிழ்:- தண்மை + தமிழ் – குளிர்ச்சி நிறைந்தது 24)தாய்த்தமிழ்:- தமிழினத்தின் தாயாகவும் மொழிகளுக்கெல்லாம் தாயாகவும் மூலமாகவும் விளங்கும் தமிழ் 25)தீந்தமிழ்:- (தேன் > தேம் > தீம்) இனிமை நிறைந்த தமிழ் 26)தெய்வத்தமிழ்:- தெய்வத்தன்மை வாய்ந்தது 27)தேன்தமிழ்:- நாவுக்கும் செவிக்கும் சிந்தைக்கும் இனிமை பயக்கும் தமிழ் 28)பசுந்தமிழ்:- பசுமை + தமிழ் – என்றும் தொடந்து செழித்து வளரும் தமிழ் 29)பைந்தமிழ்:- பைம்மை + தமிழ் (பசுமை > பைம்மை) 30)பழந்தமிழ்:- பழமையும் தொடக்கமும் அறியாத தொன்மையுடைய தமிழ் 31)பாற்றமிழ்:- பால் + தமிழ் – பால் போன்று தூய்மையிலும் சுவையிலும் தன்மையிலும் இயற்கையானது 32)பாகுதமிழ்:- வெம்மையிலும் வெல்லம் உருகிப் பாகாகி மிகுசுவை தருவது போன்று, காய்தலிலும் கடிதலிலும் நயம் குறையாதது 33)நற்றமிழ்:- நன்மை + தமிழ் – இனிய, எளிய முறையில் எழுதவும் கற்கவும் பேசவும் கருவியாகி நன்மைகள் விளையத் துணைபுரிவது 34)நாடகத்தமிழ்:- முத்தமிழுள் ஒன்று – நாடகத்தின் மெய்ப்பாடுகளை நுட்பமாய் உணர்த்தும் சொல்வளமும் பொருள்வளமும் ஒலிநயமும் நிறைந்தது 35)மாத்தமிழ்:- மா – பெரிய – பெருமைமிக்க தமிழ் (மங்கலப் பொருளுணர்த்தும் உரிச்சொல் மா) 36)முத்தமிழ்:- இயல், இசை, நாடகம் என முத்திறம் கொண்டு அமைந்த தமிழ் 37)வண்டமிழ்:- வண்மை + தமிழ் (வளஞ்செறிந்த தமிழ்) 38)வளர்தமிழ்:- காலந்தொறும் வளர்ந்துகொண்டே வரும் தமிழ் தரவு: பேராசிரியர் முனைவர் இ.மறைமலை வாழ்த்துக்களுடன் தமிழச்சி