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In an Oct. 27 Morningstar article “The Case for a ‘Good Enough’ Portfolio,” Christine Benz asks the question, “Are you an optimizer or a satisficer?” [satisfice = satisfy+suffice] Do you continually search for ways to improve your portfolio, or are you happy with good enough? Reasons exist for each; no criticism implied for either.
I’ve been a happy satisficer for decades. I’ve made a few tweaks, mostly to adjust to changing life circumstances.
What about you? And what has led you to it?
I don’t want to be greedy or obsessed, but I am very glad I am not still making all the mistakes I have in the past. I think I am more drawn to continual learning than satisfiction. What will I learn today?
My saying is if your learning one thing every day it means your still alive.
Great question and I love the responses. I’m very content. The fact that there are so many different types out there tells me you’re all doing well. Hindsight is 20/20 of course but as it has been said before “How much is enough?” Some will never be satisfied and will always want just a bit more. I’m content to enjoy the returns we’ve been getting and the fact that I don’t worry or fret or have to keep “tweaking” our portfolio. Keeping an eye on things of course; and stayingdiversified is important. But enjoy the money you’ve all worked so hard for and have been diligently looking after. Remember life is short.
Great Question. Over the years I went from Optimizer or Satisficer, or from 40 individual stocks to 10, and 80% are indexes concentrating on the S&P 500. At 80 years old, happy to have most my fun watching how investing and Financial companies continue to market items not really needed. Remember it is less than 10% of the Finance Specialists beat the S&P 500!! Enough said.
Some financial moves are fundamental and hugely important. IMHO, once you have selected a place or places to hold your money, set your goals, accepted your level of risk, chosen your desired allocation, and chosen the investments you trust to deliver value for you, only periodic maintenance is needed. You can really do all that yourself.
I have found that most financial reporting in magazines and newspapers deals mostly with counting angels on the head of a pin – the issues being written about are going to have minimal impact on your portfolio, if any. You can take more than the RMD minimum without the sky falling, for example, and there are lots or reasons why one might take Social Security before reaching the maximum payout age. But financial advisors exist to “advise”, and so they will seize upon even the smallest of small changes to prove to investors why their advice is valuable. An educated and curious investor with a head on his or her shoulders can usually do a pretty good job of ferreting out what is important to them and acting on it if necessary.