Is it safe to check my investments yet?

Every time I log in to see my own investment balance, I realise decades in the financial industry dissolve for a few seconds.

Time is suspended. I grit my teeth, screw up my nose and hold my breath. It’s the emotion of your own money and there’s no point trying to hide it.

Putting your head under the investment duvet saved most people’s sanity in lockdown.

Refusing to look at KiwiSaver balances or share portfolios when headlines shout “world markets plunge” is a coping mechanism I’ve been rather partial to myself at times.

Obsessive market-checking is about as rewarding as obsessive social media scrolling and commenting.

You waste hours interacting with a screen you can’t control and activities you weren’t part of.

But now is a good moment to lift your eyes above the warm ignorant bliss of the bedcovers.

What you’ll find could surprise you – in a good way. Managed funds rarely behave with the same extremes as individual shares or indices.

They’re diversified across asset classes and it knocks off the exuberance.

The research agency Fund Source produces monthly figures, and their snapshot at the end of May means most people will find they can exhale and un-scrunch those wrinkled snouts.

1. Growth Funds: the worst performer, Superlife 100 is down 6.5 per cent over three months, but Juno is up 3.6 per cent over the same period and has risen 15 per cent on its valuation a year ago. The vast majority of funds show positive returns in the year to May 2020.

2. Balanced Funds: the worst performer is an AMP fund, down 4 per cent in a three-month period, but it’s still up 1.2 per cent on May 2019. The best performer is Juno up 3.4 per cent in three months and 9.8 per cent over the year. On average, balanced funds are down 1 per cent over three months, but 5 per cent higher than their valuations a year ago.

3. Defensive Funds: on average there’s a whisker of positive returns over three months and some are up as much as 7 per cent over the last year (Simplicity, Aon Russell and Kiwi Wealth).

The real losers have been property funds.

Superlife is down almost 20 per cent with others such as ANZ One Answer and Summer not far behind. Money invested three years ago still has a positive return.

Figures will soon be out for June 30, 2020 and it will be worth revisiting regularly.

In terms of world markets, it’s another interesting lesson in the speed they can change their opinion. Rises feel seriously under-reported compared to falls.

For those made of sterner stuff, the fear-index has been an indicator to watch.

It went places I’ve never seen in its 20-year history.

Known as the VIX or Volatility Index, it pays not to think about how the number is generated, or you’ll dive down a rabbit hole and won’t be seen again.

Just look at the movement in the number to get some perspective.

Pre-Covid the VIX strolled along at a leisurely level of 12 to 15. On March 16, I nearly required a pacemaker when it hit 82.

The 2008 Global Financial Crisis had a high of 44. In early June we hit 40 again and hardly blinked.

It was un-newsworthy that this was the equivalent fear of the GFC. Now we are back to a mild sweat at 27.

Sharemarkets do have a bit of a “pause” feel at the moment.

As mortgage relief worldwide has to be renegotiated with banks and reinfection levels have the potential to surge over the European summer, this could be what’s known as the dead-cat bounce.

There’s still plenty to counter that argument, like the huge volume of money supporting jobs and the international markets via government grants, extensions of subsidies and quantitative easing flooding the markets with money.

It’s like watching plates spin on sticks and no one can guess how many cycles of market selloffs or sector-crashes we’ll get before a vaccine or testing regime gets the world moving again.

In the meantime, take a peek at your investment balance. It won’t bite.

Janine Starks is a financial commentator with expertise in banking, personal finance and funds management. Opinions in this column represent her personal views. They are general in nature and are not a recommendation, opinion or guidance to any individuals in relation to acquiring or disposing of a financial product. Readers should not rely on these opinions and should always seek specific independent financial advice appropriate to their own individual circumstances.