In this newsletter, I’ll discuss the pros and cons of staying connected to your portfolio—and how this topic became especially relevant while I was recently living in a small Cuban village with extremely limited internet connectivity.
As many of you know from past newsletters, I often travel during the winter. For the most part, I keep these newsletters going—it is my retirement hobby, after all. In fact, the December newsletter was uploaded by my talented editor, Natalie, after I emailed it to her from my casita in Cuba.
To Follow Your Portfolio—or Not?
That is the question.
The obvious extremes are both wrong.
Extreme #1: Never Looking at Your Portfolio
Never checking your portfolio is a bad idea. You need to know what’s going on.
It’s true that for most investors, a retirement portfolio may not be accessed for 20 to 40 years. But that day will come. Your responsibility is to ensure that either you—or someone you trust—is managing it properly.
In the early years especially, you should be receiving market-like returns. This is critical to growing that snowball into something meaningful by the end. You cannot stick your head in the sand and hope for the best.
If your portfolio is consistently underperforming the market, you need to address it. I know many people who simply prefer not to look. Some assume they are doing well, when relatively speaking, they are not. Occasional underperformance is normal. Chronic underperformance, however, is a recipe for working extra years—or worse.
Extreme #2: Checking Every Day
The other extreme—checking your portfolio daily or multiple times per day—is also generally unwise.
There are exceptions. I admit I am one of them. But you need to be somewhat unusual—less emotional about investing—for this approach to work.
Most individual investors are emotional. Watching daily market swings often leads to excessive trading, usually at the worst possible times. This lowers long-term returns.
Think of stocks like soap—the more you handle them, the smaller they get.
The data supports this. Don’t just take my word for it.
So essentially: do as I say, not as I do. Unless, of course, you’re a bit of a weirdo.
So What’s the Right Amount?
It’s somewhat subjective, but somewhere in the middle is best.
Wealth managers typically meet clients 2–4 times per year. A hands-on investor could reasonably review their portfolio quarterly or monthly at most. Personally, I believe twice a year is sufficient for most people.
If reviewing every six months makes you nervous, that’s usually a sign your portfolio may not be structured properly.
Warren Buffett once said he selects stocks in such a way that if the market closed for ten years, he would not be worried when it reopened. I’ve always liked that quote because it says a lot about portfolio construction. He generally chooses high-quality companies with staying power.
That’s also why I don’t worry about my portfolio while traveling.
Unless investing is your hobby, there’s no need to get involved in day-to-day management. It’s not good for your health—and it can turn you into that person at dinner parties who won’t stop talking about stock picks.
There are better ways to spend your time.
If you are investing properly, you should be able to walk away for long periods. Stocks are supposed to be boring.
Reviewing Your Portfolio
When you do review your portfolio—say every six months—you should compare it to an appropriate benchmark. Examples include:
- S&P 500
- MSCI World Index
- S&P/TSX 300
Investing is a relative game. As long as you are generating market-like results, you are doing fine.
It’s also a good time to look for positions that have grown too large. Markets do not grow evenly. Certain sectors—like technology—may outperform for extended periods.
If you want to manage risk and volatility, you must occasionally trim positions that have grown beyond your intended allocation and reallocate capital to areas that have lagged.
For example, imagine a stock like Amazon growing so quickly that it represents half of your portfolio. It’s a great problem to have—but would you intentionally build a portfolio with 50% in one stock? Of course not.
In my case, I trim positions once they exceed 5% of total portfolio value. I typically review this once or twice per year. If a position reaches 8%, I would reduce it back below 5%—perhaps even closer to 3% if it has become expensive.
If a stock doubles and becomes significantly overvalued, I may even consider selling it entirely.
The Rebalancing Paradox
Interestingly, studies show that portfolios left untouched for long periods sometimes generate higher returns.
That sounds strange—but it makes sense.
In a diversified portfolio, one or two positions may dramatically outperform—think of a company like Nvidia. Those winners become overweight and drive overall returns.
That’s great—until risk catches up.
Diversification lowers volatility and protects against major downturns, but it also limits extreme upside. It’s simple math.
If investing didn’t impact your future well-being, you might never rebalance. But since we depend on our portfolios, we accept slightly lower potential performance in exchange for a higher probability of long-term success.
Your portfolio is always a compromise between performance and the probability of reaching your financial goals.
A Real Example: Google
A recent example in my portfolio was Alphabet Inc..
The position nearly doubled in value and reached my 5% maximum allocation. I had previously trimmed it to stay under that level. This month, I sold the remaining shares entirely.
From a big-picture perspective, the investment performed extremely well in a short period. At double the price, however, it carried more risk and was no longer a bargain.
There is also the possibility that Google falls out of favor again, particularly as it becomes part of the shifting AI narrative.
Market Outlook
The market remains in a broad upswing.
It may not appear obvious if you only look at the S&P 500, largely because the “Magnificent Seven” stocks have recently underperformed.
However, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP)—an equal-weighted version of the index—is strong year to date. This suggests the broader market is healthy.
The AI effect has shifted from simply pushing up certain stocks to punishing companies—especially software firms—that may face disruption, often with limited evidence.
AI is creating both big winners and big losers.
I would caution against blindly following the crowd. Recently, many of my software holdings experienced a strong bounce. No one knows exactly how each company will fare in this evolving AI landscape.
Fear is currently driving many valuations. But fear is not fact—it is emotion.
Tactical Strategy
Many readers enjoy hearing about individual positions, so here are my recent moves with details:
- Sold Alphabet to reduce portfolio risk. I still like the company and may repurchase it if it falls out of favor.
- Bought BCE Inc. using the proceeds. It offers high dividends, operates in a regulated industry, and is currently out of favor. It won’t make you rich, but it offers a reasonable return for the risk. It also increases Canadian exposure.
- Bought Meta Platforms (1% position). It is out of favor, highly profitable, and deeply involved in AI. Shifting from a more expensive Alphabet to a relatively cheaper Meta keeps me participating in the AI theme.
- Sold one put contract on Netflix (April 2026, $70 strike). In simple terms, I’ve agreed to buy 100 shares of Netflix at $70 if the stock falls below that price by mid-April 2026 (it was trading at $77 when I sold the put). I received $263 USD for making that promise. If the stock never drops to $70, the contract expires and I keep the $263. I can then repeat the process. It’s essentially a way to get paid while waiting to buy Netflix at a lower price—similar to selling insurance.
Marc’s Portfolio YTD Performance
- Portfolio return: +4.8% (including currency loss)
- Portfolio return: +5.0% (excluding currency impact)
- S&P 500: +0.94%
- Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF: +6.54%
- S&P/TSX Composite Index: +6.64%
The portfolio is currently outperforming the S&P 500 by approximately 4.06 percentage points.
As always, remember: investing is a long game. The goal is not excitement—it’s achieving your future financial freedom with a high probability of success.
Money with Marc 