You guys keep mentioning how much you’re up on things. That’s ONLY if you liquidate correct? I hear guys crying at work that they’ve lost x amount in their 401k. I might be wrong but they haven’t LOST until their contributions are gone. It might not be worth as much from day to day but losses are not the correct term in my math world.

Well, it depends. If you're talking 401Ks then yes, those guys almost certainly own shares within the 401K. So, loss IS the correct term.... but it's unrealized loss unless those shares were sold, at which point it would become a realized loss.

But now if we are talking IRAs as opposed to 401ks, it all depends on what they're doing within the IRA. If they are long shares of the stock, then it would be the same as above. But if they're dealing in options or other derivatives, the loss could indeed be actual.

I confess that reading these braces comments makes me really happy that my work health plan and wife's work plan made it so that we didn't pay a penny for braces for our two boys.