# Any other youngish people obsessively check their 401(k) balance?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-youngish-people-obsessively-check-their-401-k-balance/546630>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [July 14, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-youngish-people-obsessively-check-their-401-k-balance/546630 "2010-07-14T03:53:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-youngish-people-obsessively-check-their-401-k-balance/546630/21 "2010-07-15T17:45:12Z")

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I did this during the bubble, when I had a spreadsheet showing how close to a millionaire I was given my stocks and stock options. I got over that. Now I follow Dan Ariely’s advice and don’t look, except at the monthly statements.

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**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-youngish-people-obsessively-check-their-401-k-balance/546630/22 "2010-07-16T02:38:04Z")

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I follow a policy of completely ignoring my IRA, looking at it twice a year at best. (I’m in my late twenties.) My husband is in his early thirties, and probably looks at his nearly every day, but he works in finance.

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**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-youngish-people-obsessively-check-their-401-k-balance/546630/23 "2010-07-16T14:33:43Z")

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> [@Hampshire](#):
>
> Check it?  
> Shit, I created a whole damn Excel spreadsheet that I go to every morning and plug in the closing prices of all the mutual funds I’m invested in.

Me too (although I’m 37 I’ve had that spreadsheet around for more than 10 yrs.)

I also have calculations for expected penalties for early withdrawal, expected annual yields, optimum stock/bond balances, and various cost-of-living scenarios to calculate how close I am to various lifestyle choices of retirement.

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**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-youngish-people-obsessively-check-their-401-k-balance/546630/24 "2010-07-16T18:10:18Z")

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> [@Ludovic](#):
>
> Me too (although I’m 37 I’ve had that spreadsheet around for more than 10 yrs.)
> 
> I also have calculations for expected penalties for early withdrawal, expected annual yields, optimum stock/bond balances, and various cost-of-living scenarios to calculate how close I am to various lifestyle choices of retirement.

Just to save you time, I think you can set up something on Yahoo (and a million other places, no doubt) which does that for you automatically. The stocks and mutual fund stuff, not the other things.

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