Question/Comment from client: “Things don’t seem to be doing too well.  Should we be making changes?”

  Answer from me: "Do you have cans of tuna fish in your closet?"   Client: "Yes."   Me: "How much did you pay?"   Client "$1.20"   Me:  If the price of tuna dropped to $.89, would you drive to the store and return it to get your 89 cents?   Client: No.   Me: Why not?   Client: I paid $1.20.   Me: If the price of tuna went up to $5/can, would you take your tuna back to the store if they were paying $5/can for it?   Client: Yes.   Me: Think of your investments as cans of tuna fish.  If the price goes down, you still have 10 cans of tuna in your closet.  We don't care about the price until we are ready to sell.  Otherwise, we're only selling if the tuna goes bad or if something happens and you develop a tuna allergy.  You liked the tuna when it was selling for $1.20 a can.  You should love it now that it's selling for $.89 a can.     Keep in mind that when we started working together, the one promise that I made is that there would be times that you would lose money.  This is one of those times.  This is why I've always stressed that we also need to have conservative money that is guaranteed to grow.  The only other promise that I will ever be able to keep is that your life insurance will grow in value every year.   Do you have more money to invest today?