A couple of weeks back I updated our super balances in Banktivity, the software we use to track our personal finances. It’s something I do at the end of every financial year.

(If you’re not in Australia, our financial year runs from July 1 to June 30. Go figure. And super is short for superannuation, our compulsory retirement savings … 401K for our American friends.)

Apparently it's been a good year in the markets. Our balance has gone up 14 percent and added a significant chunk of change to our savings.

I only log in once a year to see what the number is.

Seeing what’s in there more often isn’t productive. Watching the number go up and down isn’t going to change anything. There are no decisions to make.

And it's actually counterproductive. I, like everyone, am dysfunctional around money. The emotional response to paper gains and losses isn’t useful.