I met with a couple today that had a million dollar investment portfolio over four years ago. They are now down to around $250,000 if the equity of their rental is included. They went from tech and Internet stocks to junk bonds. They are now ready to say uncle." What are they going to do with their 250K when they say uncle? That's the problem...
The bulk of my portfolio went from $71-ish/shr three years ago to $61 and change today... that's when they went public though; my cost basis is around $9-ish... It's decreased but not a disaster, and I can't think of a thing to invest in that I'm not already in...
If that couple lost 75% of the value of their portfolio and didn't understand the term "stop-loss" then they must be every brokers wet dream. I bail on some stocks on as little as a 10-15% move and usually even quicker. That's insanity. They might as well pull it out and invest in tulips or gold.