Your Routine: Watchlist, Journal & Review

A watchlist is a saved list of companies you are studying. Each name earns its place with a reason in one sentence, a dated source, and the next date on which something will be known. That makes it a queue: the next name to read is the one whose date comes first.

It is not your holdings, the shares you own and see in your demat account, and it is not an order: show the note on Orders and alerts, an instruction to buy or sell. A watchlist has no quantity, no cash and no purchase price. Removing a name from it changes nothing you own; adding one commits no money. Holdings and orders have their own screens (placing your first order shows them).

A price changes every second, for many reasons (what moves share prices). What you can learn about the business changes on a few known days, and chapter 2 shows how few. The app's row tells you where the price is; your row tells you what you are waiting to find out.

Maya's list today: show the note on Made up, on real dates, on Friday 30 October 2026 after the close, is drawn below, beneath the way an app shows the same Titan: two companies to study, one on her Watch list with a dated note, one to check again after an event, and her index fund on hold.

Results come on announced days. A listed company reports its results, its sales, costs and profit for the period, every quarter. In India its board must tell the exchange at least two working days: show the note on Prior intimation before the meeting that will approve them, not counting the day of the notice or the day of the meeting, and the results must reach the exchange within 45 days: show the note on The windows of the quarter's end, or 60 days for the full year. Other countries have their own rules; the habit is the same.

Three companies, one year. In 2026 Titan reported: show the note on Titan Company · NSE: TITAN on 10 February, 8 May and 7 August and, as notified on 20 October, will report on 5 November. Asian Paints reported: show the note on Asian Paints · NSE: ASIANPAINT on 27 January, 29 May, 29 July and 29 October; L&T on 28 January: show the note on Larsen & Toubro · NSE: LT, 5 May, 28 July and 27 October. Twelve days, each inside its legal window (derived). On every other day the businesses kept working: show the note on Between results, and their other filings can wait for Maya's weekly look.

The notice varies; the minimum does not. Asian Paints gave 23 days' notice, Titan 16 and L&T 14; Jio Platforms, in its first week: show the note on Jio Platforms · NSE: JPL as a listed company, sent its letter on Tuesday 27 October for Friday 30 October, with two working days between (derived). Any of them is enough for a routine that looks ahead once a week.

Read after, not during. Results can come during market hours (Asian Paints, 2:04 pm on 29 October) or after the close (L&T, 5:13 pm on 27 October; Titan's will be published right after its meeting). Either way, they will say the same thing the next morning.

Time decides the list's size. Maya keeps her mornings for the restaurant until lunch prep, so she gives the list 20 minutes on Monday. At about five minutes a name for the weekly check, that is four names (made up). A list longer than the time to read it is not research; it is a feed.

Choose a universe before names. A universe is the set of companies you allow yourself to study. Maya's: large Nifty 50 companies whose business she can explain in one sentence, and companies the course has shown her; Titan, Asian Paints and L&T are all in the Nifty 50 (market indices explains the index). A new listing can join the queue as "check again after the event", as Jio Platforms did (IPOs explained). A tip is never a source (staying safe).

Check one: the company and the security. Write down the listed company, its symbol and its ISIN, the code that names one exact security: show the note on ISIN (how to research a stock separates the company from its shares). Take them from the exchange's current list, not from a search result.

The trap, in real records. On 30 October 2026, NSE's Nifty 50 file and BSE's daily file both gave Titan's ISIN as INE280A01028 and Asian Paints' as INE021A01026, while NSE's own board-meeting records still carried the older INE280A01010 and INE021A01018. The same companies, two codes, and a row with the older one would not match the exchange's current list. The current list wins; note where you took the code from.

Check two: one exchange, one date: show the note on Two exchanges, two closes. A price needs its exchange and its date: Titan closed at ₹4436.50 on NSE on Friday 30 October 2026 (how to read a stock quote reads a quote in this order).

Check three: does it fit the time? If adding a name would push the weekly check past the 20 minutes, a name leaves first. Removing it is not a judgment of the company; it is a choice about your time.

Every name is in exactly one place, and the place says what it still needs. Study is for a name she is still learning: what it sells, who pays, how it reports. It needs nothing but a reason and a date. Titan and Asian Paints are here.

Watch is for a name with a dated research note (how to research a stock writes one): what she knows, what she assumes, what would change her mind and when to check. L&T is here, with its note of 30 October 2026. Watch is still not owning; it is waiting for the next check.

Hold is for something she owns. The gate into it is a decision written in her journal before it is made: the reason, the loss budget and the share count (risk management 101), and the feeling named (trading psychology). Maya's only holding here is her broad index fund, from her plan in asset allocation basics.

Two more places keep the list honest. Check again holds a name: show the note on One event waiting for one event: Jio Platforms, until she has read its first results. Archive keeps a name she dropped, with the date and the reason, so the list never forgets why.

Moving back is normal. A Watch name whose note fails goes back to Study or to Archive; a holding sold returns to Watch or Archive with its journal line.

Here is Maya's row for L&T, the one name on her Watch list. It is short because the note behind it is long: the dated note from how to research a stock, written on 30 October 2026.

Six fields, every one checkable. What it is, why it is here, the source and its date, the next event, what would change her mind, and the next check: a stranger could open each source and get the same answer.

One line from the note, not the note. The row carries the single line most likely to move: signed work below about two years of revenue: show the note on Order book (it was 2.8 years at 30 September 2026, derived from L&T's filing). The other three lines stay in the note.

Dates on everything, including the date you wrote the row. A row without a date cannot tell you it is stale. L&T's next results date was not announced on 30 October, so the row carries the legal deadline instead: Sunday 14 February 2027 (derived).

Your turn: copy the six headings for each name on your list: what it is, why it is here, source and date, next event, what would change my mind, next check.

Every Monday before lunch prep, Maya writes the restaurant's weekly order from last week's numbers: buns, patties, boxes. She never changes the order mid-service because one table sent back a burger. On Mondays now, her weekly review page goes up beside the order sheet.

Her kitchen runs on prep, service, close and the Monday order; decisions are made in the quiet slot, not in the rush. The list works the same way. The difference: she sees her own sales every night, while a company's numbers arrive four times a year and its price moves every second for reasons she cannot see.

Weekly, on Monday, 20 minutes (made up): open the board; look one week ahead for dates (results, record dates, listings); read anything filed since last Monday for her names; move a name only if its paper is done; write one journal line, even "no change, no trade". Market holidays shift nothing: the routine runs on her calendar, not the exchange's.

Monthly, on the first Monday, 45 minutes (made up): check the depository's statement, the CAS: show the note on CAS (staying safe explains it), against her own records; prune the list, archiving with a reason and never deleting; put the next month's dates on the board; and check that what she owns still matches her written plan (asset allocation basics).

Quarterly and yearly, one line each: after each results window closes, the review of chapter 8, the next on Monday 16 November 2026; every October, her plan and its rebalance.

It adds up to about 34 hours a year, or 40 minutes a week on average (derived from her made-up slots). Between slots, an alert is a reason to add a line to Monday's list, not to act; chapter 7 says when to act sooner.

Two real results days. Asian Paints filed its results at 1:58 pm on Tuesday 27 January 2026. From the previous close of ₹2703.70: show the note on Which close the share closed at ₹2622.80 that day and ₹2511.80 the next, 7.10% lower in two sessions (derived). L&T filed its results after the close on Tuesday 27 October 2026, and its share closed 3.72% higher the next day, at ₹3801.30 (derived). Neither move tells a holder what to do. Each puts one task on the list: read the results against the note, line by line.

What reacting costs. Morningstar measured it: over the ten years to December 2025, the average dollar invested in US mutual funds and ETFs earned 8.7% a year, while the funds themselves earned 9.9%. The gap, about 1.2 points a year, came from when and how much investors bought and sold. The funds were the same; the timing was the investors'.

The sources agree on what counts. Morningstar's good reasons to sell are the goal reached or the money needed, an investment that changed fundamentally, and a reason for buying that is broken; its poor ones are short-term performance, trying to dodge an expected event, and fear or greed: show the note on Disposition effect. Zerodha Varsity holds a share "as long as the investible grade attributes stay intact", and does not sell on a fall alone.

Selling is not a verdict. A sale under written rules says the reason or the plan changed, not that the company is bad; the name goes back to Watch or Archive with its journal line, and can return.

Write the rules first. CFA Institute's guide for individual investors says a written policy offers "an objective course of action" when markets are disrupted. Maya writes hers on a quiet Monday, on one page, for any holding: they name no share. They come in three parts: hold while the note's reasons stand; add only as a new decision, sized from her loss budget; sell or reduce when a reason breaks, never on a price move alone.

One journal, every decision. One notebook or file, used for every decision: a name moved between lists, a paper trade (zero to first trade), an addition to her fund, a sale, and each Monday's line even when nothing changed. Before: the date, the decision, the reason in one sentence, the note it rests on, the size and loss budget if money moves, and the feeling named. After: the result, on a separate line, with its date (trading psychology shows the page).

Never delete. A wrong entry is crossed out with a date and a line saying why. A journal with the losses removed teaches the wrong lesson.

The quarterly review comes after the window closes. Results for a quarter must be out within 45 days, so Maya reviews on the first Monday after: the next is Monday 16 November 2026 (derived). Two hours, six questions. Did every name's next check happen, and which rows are stale? Did any result cross a "change my mind" line, and has the note been re-read and re-dated? How many decisions did she make, and how many followed her written rules? How did her result compare with the index over the same months (beginner mistakes handed this check on)? What did each decision cost, including charges (brokerage, charges and taxes), and are her records ready for tax (taxes on your trades)? And what will she change: the list's size, the time, a rule? She writes the change and its date.

Judge the process, then the result, over years. Maya's first quarter (made up): thirteen Monday lines; nine "no change, no trade"; four decisions, three as written, and one that broke a rule (she moved a name to Watch before its note was dated). Three of four is a count of rules kept: show the note on Not a win rate, not a win rate. Results need longer: CFA Institute's example reviews reports every quarter but judges success over eight quarters, two years. Her pause line from risk management 101 still stands between reviews: if her learning money falls 10% below its highest point, she opens no new trade until she has read her journal.

Every October, the year: the plan's money and its rebalance (asset allocation basics), on the calendar or when a part has drifted 5 points or more from its target. It is a yearly job, not a weekly one, as the US SEC's guide suggests.

Maya began this course with her restaurant and one question: why does a stock market exist at all? Here is what you can now do, from that first lesson on: say why a market exists, what a share is, how an exchange matches buyers and sellers and what moves a price (why the stock market exists); decide when your money is ready, where it can go and whom to trust (your money before the market); open the accounts, place an order, and know what it costs and when it settles (the three accounts); read an index, a company's size, a corporate action and a price band (market indices); read a chart and a report and write a dated note (technical and fundamental analysis); size a risk, stay away from borrowed money and catch your own biases (risk management 101); read one card of twelve checks before every order (12 beginner mistakes); and keep a routine that runs on dates, not prices.

Next Monday. The first task is not new learning: it is your first Monday slot. Choose the minutes you can keep, the few names that fit them and the six headings for each, then write the first journal line, even if it says "no change, no trade".

The Glossary keeps every word of the course in one place, for the day a filing or a headline uses one you have forgotten.

The Options course starts from what a derivative is (what are derivatives?). Before it, read what trading vs investing shows about how individual traders in futures and options fared in SEBI's studies, and what margin, leverage and pledging shows about borrowed exposure. The course will still be there after a year of Mondays.

Going back is part of the routine. When a quarterly review finds a weak spot, a rule broken or a note not dated, the lesson that taught it is one link away on the board's rows. Your names will differ from Maya's; the routine will not.