My 401k personal rate of return is -20.4% year-to-date. The loss from a change in market value has cancelled out effectively 75% of Microsoft’s contribution to my 401k. Last week, the number was about 11%.
Oh, and my 401k investments are rather conservative – I have friends heading towards -30% on their rate of return.
My advice is to not look at your 401k for the next, oh, decade or so.
Honestly, I don’t know how people “play” the stock market. My heart skips beats when I look at the dollar amount that I’ve “lost” since the beginning of the year. Sure, I know it isn’t real, and that I’ll (hopefully) get it all back in the future, but christ if it isn’t unnerving.