It's pretty unscientific to decide how well you're doing without developing some sort of criteria for success. If you decide that you want overall gains of 15%, it makes a lot of sense to sit down and evaluate exactly how well you did. If you fell short of your goals, ask yourself why. Did you make a mistake in picking your stocks? Did the market behave unexpectedly? Were your targeted gains unrealistic? If you don't go over your trades individually and as a whole, it's quite possible to have a skewed idea of just how well you're doing.
Source: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/younginvestors/06/portfoliomanagement.asp
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