It usually does. I didn't sell one nickel of stock during the crash. Many did.

One of the stupidest objections to private retirement funds is "what happens when you're old and the market crashes?" The answer is if you're 65 and all your money is in stocks when things go sour for a while, you're the one who's screwed up your life.

As you move toward retirement, you start to move away from high-growth investments that are not always stable in the short run and into more stable investments. This isn't rocket science.

If I had actually been investing my own money over the years, a majority of it would not be in stocks at this point in my life. I have been selling stock funds recently and moving into more conservative funds. Not because I think the market is going to crash, but because it's the time of my life when I do that. My online SEP-IRA service has many tools to help me balance my account properly. If I were 22, my choices would be completely different.

Putting all your money in gold isn't that bright either, especially if you're young. Gold preserves value, but doesn't really grow over the long run. It's essentially putting inflation-proof money in a mattress.