Got up this AM and the news says the DOW is set to plummet again, futures are down 550+ in overnight trading...which brings me to my point...

when the market goes down, really, really down, and the news makes statements like "the market lost xxx billions in value overnight", or this week, or whatever....did it really? I mean, was it ever really there? in the stock market, your portfolio has a value at any given time, but really, it's only real--and concrete, if you sell at that point in time. If you don't sell, it's only what "could have been"? am I right?

point being, I think people in general have an erroneous view of the market...if you put all your retirement savings in there, you can never REALLY count you real worth until you cash out....i guess that is obvious now...i guess what I have a problem with is simply the statement that the news folk make about "billions in value vanishing into thin air"....how can that be? maybe it's a function of the communications meduim...maybe that not what they really meant...but the "expanded" truth won't fit in a 2 second headline blurb?