 Well, when it comes to money, people usually measure success in segments. They might look at a portion of their money that had the best performance over a period of time, sometimes ignoring the money that was lost to market risk, fees, and taxes. You see this all the time, and not just from the guy talking about his money at a party. You see it on the financial news when they get all excited because the market is up for that day. You see it from brokers and advisors when they talk about the previous year's results.