The Sunday Scan — 30 minutes that compound
Investing is only half about decisions. The other half is the small, steady habit of checking in. Today: a 30-minute Sunday ritual that keeps you connected to your portfolio without becoming obsessed with it.
Why Sunday, why 30 minutes
Markets are closed on Sunday. Your emotions are calmer because nothing can move. You can't accidentally panic-buy or panic-sell. You're forced to read, observe, and reflect.
30 minutes is enough to do the four sections below. An hour leads to over-thinking. Less than 15 minutes leads to skipping things. 30 minutes is the calm middle.
The Sunday Scan checklist
What the Sunday Scan is NOT
It's not for trading. It's not for making decisions. The Sunday Scan is for awareness, not action.
- Don't sell during the scan — if a stock has dropped 15% this week, that's a signal to dig deeper later, not to act on Sunday
- Don't add positions during the scan — those decisions belong with your full trade plan, not a quick weekly review
- Don't read tip channels during the scan — stay with primary sources (screener.in, moneycontrol.com, livemint.com, BSE/NSE)
Why the habit matters more than the analysis
The biggest gift of the Sunday Scan isn't the information you gather. It's the steady relationship you build with your portfolio. Most beginners check their stocks 20 times a day during good weeks, then disappear during bad weeks. Both extremes are unhealthy.
30 minutes once a week, every week, is the calm middle. You stay connected without becoming obsessed. Over years, this rhythm protects you from both panic and complacency.
Most people can do the seven signs, write a trade plan, even buy in instalments. Few can do these things consistently for years. The Sunday Scan is the small habit that makes consistency possible. 30 minutes a week. 26 hours a year. Multiplied across decades.
Pick a specific Sunday time — say 10:00am, after morning chai. Block it as recurring on your calendar for the next year. Whether you have stocks or not. The habit of showing up matters more than what you do during the half-hour.
- Why Sunday is the right day for portfolio review (markets closed = clear mind)
- The 30-minute scan in four sections: stocks, market, macro, watchlist
- What the Sunday Scan is NOT — not trading, not deciding
- Why the habit matters more than the specific information
The quarterly review — the matured FD principle
Once every three months, you do something deeper than the Sunday Scan. You ask: "If this stock were a fixed deposit that just matured today, would I buy it again?" The matured FD principle. The single best discipline for long-term investors.
Why a quarterly review
The Sunday Scan keeps you aware. The Quarterly Review forces you to make decisions. Aware-but-passive is most beginners' state — they know roughly what's happening but never deliberately decide whether each stock still belongs in the portfolio.
Indian companies report results quarterly — typically in April, July, October, January. Doing your own review a few weeks after each cycle gives you fresh data to evaluate against. The cycle of the company becomes the rhythm of your discipline.
The matured FD principle
Imagine each stock you own is a fixed deposit that just matured. The cash is in your hand. Now you ask: at today's price, would I put this money back into the same stock?
If yes — hold. The conviction is fresh. The reasoning is current.
If no — exit. Why hold tomorrow what you wouldn't buy today?
This single question reframes the entire mental model of investing. You stop thinking of your existing positions as "things I already own" and start treating them as "things I'm choosing to own each quarter." The choice becomes deliberate.
What a quarterly review covers
For each stock, ~10 minutes of work:
- Re-run the seven signs. Do they still pass? Has anything shifted?
- Read the latest quarterly results. Did profit growth continue? Was guidance changed?
- Listen to (or read) the management commentary. Is the story still consistent?
- Check shareholding changes. Are FIIs and DIIs still increasing or decreasing?
- Apply the matured FD principle. At today's price, would you buy again?
If you own 5-7 stocks, this takes about an hour. Spread over a Sunday afternoon, with chai. Not stressful — reflective.
What to do with each verdict
- Strong yes — hold or even add via instalments to your existing position
- Lean yes — hold but don't add; watch carefully next quarter
- Lean no — start to reduce; the conviction is wavering
- Strong no — exit. Move the capital elsewhere — even if just to cash for now
The matured FD principle is hardest when a stock is up significantly. "Would I buy at this higher price?" The mind resists — you don't want to sell what's going up. But this is exactly when the discipline matters. Sometimes the answer is still yes (the business has gotten even stronger). Sometimes it's no (the price has run ahead of fundamentals). The honest answer protects you.
Equally hard when a stock is down. "I'll sell when it recovers." This is the language of regret, not analysis. If the answer to "would I buy today?" is no, the answer is to exit — even at a loss. Holding a fundamentally weakening business in hopes of recovery is the most expensive mistake from Lesson 26.
Set recurring calendar reminders for mid-May, mid-August, mid-November, mid-February — about 4-6 weeks after each Indian results cycle. Even if you have no stocks yet, the rhythm becomes the habit. When you do start investing, the structure is already in place.
- Why "aware but passive" is the default state of most beginner investors
- The matured FD principle — your single most useful mental model
- The quarterly review process — five steps per stock
- How to act on each kind of verdict
- The hardest cases — stocks up 50% and stocks down 30%
When to exit — four valid reasons, and many bad ones
Selling is harder than buying. You feel both regret and doubt regardless of which way the stock has moved. Today: the four valid reasons to exit a position — and the many bad ones that quietly destroy returns.
The four valid reasons to exit
The many invalid reasons to exit
How to exit when you do exit
When the reason is valid, exit cleanly:
- Don't try to time the perfect price — once you've decided to sell, sell within a few days, not weeks of hesitation
- Consider partial exits if the position is large — exit one-third now, one-third in two weeks, one-third in a month
- Don't watch the price after exit — if it goes up further, you'll feel regret; if it goes down, smug; both feelings distort future decisions
- Update your trade plan — note the date, the price, and the reason. Future-you will appreciate the discipline.
In India, equity holdings beyond one year are taxed at a lower long-term capital gains rate. If you're close to the one-year mark, sometimes waiting a few weeks saves you 5-10% in tax. Don't let tax tail wag the investment dog — but be aware. We'll keep tax details high-level here; consult a tax professional for specific situations.
For any stock you currently hold (or are considering), write down what would make you sell. Be specific. "If profit growth turns negative for two consecutive quarters, I exit." "If the stock reaches ₹X, I sell half." "If RBI raises rates by more than 50bps in 6 months, I review." Pre-deciding makes future selling clean.
- The four valid reasons to exit a position — clean, deliberate, defensible
- The six most common invalid reasons that destroy beginner returns
- How to exit cleanly when you do exit
- The complete REVIEW phase — Sunday Scan, Quarterly Review, exits
- You now hold the full Stop · Think · Trade · Review framework