If you have different investments, or stocks, do you have to monitor them every day?

Everybody has different goals and objectives. For some, it's buy and hold and pray, although this method is not working presently. For others, it's buy and make a few percent in a month or less and find something better. You have to determine how determined you are.

For me, I spend a few minutes on each stock I own every day. I try to keep the number between 5 and 8. I take a peek at the charts, price - volume, macd - stochastics to make sure that no major changes have occured and set tight trailing stops after the initial advance. The key is picking great stocks with great fundamentals in great sectors that have taken a momentary dip. Also it's good to monitor the daily news on each stock you own. Keep an eye on when the earnings reports are due. While doing this, I keep my eye out for future prospects. Telechart has been a big time saver in this regard.

For funds, it's a good idea to look at the 20, 50, and 200 d moving average charts about once a month or so.
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If you made the right decisions at the begining, you should buy them and forget them until your 65 or so.

well, if u do have a trustworthy remiser or investment planner, then u do not need 2 do so. they will contact u for profit taking.
however, it would be great if u could monitor as well . it is a fun experience as well as u get to noe sum market trends.

Unless you want to work as a day trader then investments are generally for the long term (at LEAST 10 years, if not 20-30). When first investing it's tempting to check them everyday and if they go up you will feel pleased. However, it's easy to get depressed if they go down too! This depression may make you think about selling but DON'T!! For stocks to show any real growth they must go through at least one economic cycle which takes about 7 years.

However, I would advise checking them every 6 months to a year: it is always a good idea to Spring clean your portfolio and if shares are doing well you may want to enjoy the profits (or dump them if they look terminally bad). Investments don't need to be totally static: if you want money for a car, holiday or house then don't be afraid to cash some in. But in general, they are best left alone for a long period. It all depends on what you want to do with them and the money they can generate.

You should be interested in what your investments are doing.
I monitor mine everyday and I monitor stocks I think I am interested in for the future.
I read and learn and will not hold through peaks and valleys, I will time the market in a fashion, based on reading and understanding what I own.

If you're a proffessional (investing on behalf of others), you should be monitoring your investments daily. For my own personal portfolio, i prefer to watch them only a few times a month. But that's because the stock market here in South Africa is doing really well, so most investments are doing well (less reason for me to worry).

The proviso is when I buy speculative investments, I do watch them daily. I'd suggest you do the same if you're not investing in blue chips.

If you own stocks-- you need to monitor them on a regular basis. Since company (or market) news could have dramatic effects on your stock prices, you need to stay up on current events so you know when to sell-- or when to buy more.

If you don't have the time to monitor stocks on a regular basis, I would highly recommend a mutual or index fund. You can learn everything you need to know about these funds at Morningstar.com.

GOOD LUCK!

I read the other answers and felt compelled to answer this question.
First, before you created this portfolio, you must have worked with an investment advisor or a potfolio manager to write an Investment policy statement (IPS), where you should write your past experiences vis-a-vis losses or gains, objectives of the investment, how much risk you can tolerate(still go to sleep at night) and how much return you want to achieve.
In general, people look for the following: Capital preservation, Capital appreciation, Investment income or overall total return.
Once you define your investment objectives, then you start to build the portfolio of assets and to diversify. Here you need a lot of knowledge and experience especially if you are buying individual company stocks. Once you reach a certain number of stocks/bonds etc.. then adding another asset to the portfolio must be viewed in the context of the total portfolio which means that this particular asset that you are trying to add will not be considered on its own merit, but on the merit of what it will do to the overall portfolio.
What I just said requires a lot of discipline and years of investment experience.
If you are new to the finance world, then the do-it yourself approch should invest 10% or less of your money and leave the rest to an advisor, especially if the amount is larger than what you make in a couple of years.
Finally, educate yourself with good online sites as yahoo finance and others that offer eduation and not stock promotion.
Hope that this helps
boudames

Not if you put in stop loss orders. Decide what kind of fluctuation in value that you can tolerate - say 10%. Then place a stop order on each stock at 10% below your purchase price. If the stock drops below that value, you will automatically sell and be out. I would recommend re-setting the stop loss every quarter, to lock in some of your gain. Each quarter, change each stop loss to 10% below current value. This way you can sleep at night, knowing your upside is unlimited, but your downside is limited to a 10% loss. Again, 10% was just used as an example. Find what you are comfortable with, and realize that many stocks are very volatile - which means a 10% drop could happen often, (you would be out) followed by a large gain (which you wouldn't get). For volatile stocks, I would increase the stop loss to, say, 15%. For a more stable holding, like an Index ETF, I'd use, say 8%. Good Luck!

No. (That's my job)

I am a Portfolio Manager with over a decade of experience in the Stock Markets.

It depends entirely on your goals, age, and risk tolerances. There is no one set answer to this question.
It also depends on what you are investing in. For instance, exchange traded funds, mutual funds, and unit investment trusts are fine for the long haul and should give you above average returns if you ignore them (once again depends on the type of funds and of course returns are not guaranteed). Individual stocks may or may not give you significantly higher returns, but may or may not give you significantly higher losses.

Finally, if you can find a broker, planner, or advisor you can trust, let him worry about it since that is what you will be paying him for. Most competent brokers know what they are doing and can guide you to where you need to be, based on your individual profile and risk assessments.