The More You Check Your TSP or Investment Accounts, the Worse You’ll Do
Be honest—how often do you check your TSP? If you’re peeking more than once a week, we need to talk.
If you are doing it daily, we need an intervention. What might feel harmless (or even responsible), but checking too often can actually hurt your long-term success.
Wait, what? How can something as simple as checking my account be a bad thing? Let’s break it down.
The Problem with Constant Checking
These days, we can check our accounts anytime, anywhere. With the TSP’s upgrades over the last few years, a couple of taps, and boom—your latest balance is right there. And yeah, it can be kind of fun. Watching your balance grow (especially after those big agency contributions!) can feel great. But it can also become a habit—and not necessarily a healthy one.
Many people even see this habit as a sign of being financially responsible. After all, in most areas of life, paying closer attention usually leads to better outcomes, right?
Think about it like this: in a hospital ICU, constant monitoring is literally a life-or-death matter. Doctors and nurses are always nearby, and machines track every little blip and beep to catch problems before they get worse. That level of vigilance makes perfect sense in that scenario.
But here’s the thing: your portfolio is not an ICU patient. In fact, treating it that way might actually do more harm than good.
Why We React to Market Swings
Let’s talk about how our brains work. Humans have this amazing survival mechanism called “loss aversion.” Basically, we hate losing stuff. In fact, we hate it so much that losing $50 feels way worse than the joy we’d feel from gaining $50.
This made sense back in the day for our ancestors, where survival was the name of the game. Imagine you’re living on the plains of the Serengeti, and you think there’s a lion nearby. What do you do? You hide—every single time. It’s not worth the risk to stick around.
Fast forward to today, and while we’re no longer dodging lions, we have the same operating system and our brains still react to perceived threats the same way.
And here’s the kicker: we sometimes see short-term market losses as those threats.
When Checking Leads to Bad Decisions
Here’s what happens when you check your account too often: you’re bound to see days when your balance is down. Even though this is totally normal for the market, your brain might go into full-on panic mode.
That’s when the bad decisions start. You feel the urge to “run to safety” by selling your investments or making impulsive changes. You’ll tell yourself you’re just being cautious, but in reality, you might be locking in losses or missing out on long-term growth.
As Warren Buffett famously said, “The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.”
Or, as another saying goes, the market transfers money from the fearful to the patient.
The Daily Checking Trap
Let’s put some numbers on this. If you check your portfolio every single day, you’re likely to see it up about 53% of the time and down about 47% of the time.* Not bad odds, right?
Well, here’s the problem: thanks to loss aversion, those 47% of “down days” are going to feel way worse than the 53% of “up days” feel good. The more you check, the more you focus on the losses. And even if your account is growing overall, it might feel like you’re losing money.
The Solution: Check Less, Stress Less
The answer is simple: check less. Seriously. It’s not about ignoring your money—it’s about giving it space to grow without freaking yourself out over every little fluctuation. Here’s how to do it:
- Remind yourself that “not checking” doesn’t mean “not caring.” You don’t need to babysit your portfolio. Unlike the ICU, daily changes in the market don’t actually give you useful information. Trends take time to develop—think weeks, months, or even years. Trust the process.
- Make it harder to check. Delete the investment app from your phone. Logging in every five minutes is just a habit, like scrolling social media. By adding a little friction—like having to open your laptop and enter a password—you’re less likely to do it impulsively.
- Focus on learning, not checking. Instead of obsessing over your balance, subscribe to a blog or read books by great investors. The more you understand the habits of successful investing, the less tempted you’ll be to react emotionally to short-term market changes.
The Bottom Line
Investing isn’t about reacting to every small movement—it’s about being patient and staying the course. By stepping away from the ICU model of constant monitoring, you’ll give your portfolio the time and space it needs to grow.