Can we stop pretending the crash only hurts if you’re over invested?

I only invested what I can afford to lose, have a maxed-out 401k in index funds, steady income, and so on. Know what? It still hurts like fuck to be down 50% since April. And I haven’t even lost anything. I’m holding for years to come.

I see this post after post with some version of: “If you’re upset about the crash, you’re over invested.”

But I don’t think it’s universal.

Some of us hate to lose, even if it’s money we can afford to lose. Some of us hate to lose, even if those losses aren’t actualized because we’re holding. Some of us hate to lose a nickel or a game or Monopoly to a child. Some of us hate to lose at big stuff and small stuff alike. As adults, we learn to deal with this character trait in healthy ways. The hatred of losing drives us to excel, to do better next time. We learn to not allow it to make us depressed, or cruel, or to take it out on anyone. Especially not the child who beats us at Monopoly.

But some of just hate to lose at anything, even for a minute. And this is not a bad thing.