Good point but my larger takeaway from these kind of discussions is only to wonder why people who are presumably in this for big, life-changing gains are spending so much energy focusing on such small little baby steps.
Sure, to achieve greater gains we have to get past all the points along that path, but why spend so much time and energy watching the paint dry?
If I'm going to hike to the top of a tall mountain I know I have to get out of the parking lot in order to achieve my goal. But I don't count each step through the parking lot and strategize what it's going to take to get out of the parking lot so I can take a selfie when I make it all the way to where the trail enters the forest. And I don't repeat that behavior all the way to the top of the mountain. When I break out of the forest and enter the alpine, I will reappraise the weather and how I'm doing in terms of time and energy relative to existing conditions. When I reach the first snowfield or steeper exposed section, I might take a snack break and reappraise my condition before continuing. But I don't wonder if each step I take might be the one that trips me up and makes me fall, I just proceed with normal awareness, sure of my ability to walk. I don't celebrate each and every step along the way as a victory, I assume I will make each step as long as I have correctly assessed the situation. If I fall, I will know it just as soon, regardless of whether I'm obsessing over every step.
The market is a messy, ugly place and is simply an unavoidable necessity to achieve investment objectives. I recommend investors avoid paying attention to the market whenever possible. It's not emotionally healthy or productive to dissect every little market reaction, even more so when the market reaction has nothing to do with your bigger investment goals. Watching your long-term investment climb with a magnifying glass obscures those larger goals. This kind of behavior is what causes the "sell" itch to become overwhelming as the price climbs higher. Because it makes the gains seem so fragile and so hard won. Because you doubted and/or obsessed over those gains every step of the way. Why were you paying such close attention to them to begin with if you didn't have serious doubts? The use of the magnifying glass on the way up only obscures the underlying dynamic, the actual growth of your investment and the performance of the underlying company. Also, celebrating every step requires that you experience some pain with every backslide.
None of that is healthy or productive, who needs it? I can tell you, when you get to the top of that figurative mountain, you will have a lot more energy remaining if you didn't doubt every step, if you just let it come naturally while making prudent and informed decisions at key points along the way. In other words, you will be better prepared to make good decisions as to how to handle your recent good fortune if you didn't spend an inordinate amount of time and energy over many years watching every messy and irrelevant detail of the process.
Investing should free the body, mind and spirit, not consume them. Otherwise, what's the point of having money if it leaves you worse off overall than if you didn't make it? The trick is to make the money without it extracting a toll upon you. I would suggest if you think you actually like the process of following the ticker minute by minute, if you think it makes you a more valuable or worthy human, or you think it will make you wealthier, you are probably mistaken.
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