Nationwide Backs 401(k) Day

Agents can start by suggesting that participants "look at history, because, typically, when you've had market declines in history and when the news gets terrible and everyone says ?this is the worst market ever,' the investors who stick with it benefit quite a bit," Peddicord says.

Peddicord cites the "Black Monday" crisis in 1987, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 500 points in a single horrible day, to 2800.

Investors who stayed in "are now looking at a market that's around 8500," he says. "Their account almost tripled in value over that 10-plus years period of time. Their patience paid off."

The time to pare back is when there's a state of euphoria in the market, Peddicord says, because "there's a lot of optimism priced into the market."

Some agents want to know what to say to baby boomer 401(k) participants who are worried about their elderly parents living on shrinking retirement funds. Boomers say they don't feel their parents have time to wait for a stock market turn-around.

But Peddicord says the oldest 401(k) participants usually aren't hurt much by stock market volatility.

"Typically, an 85-year-old is not going have a huge exposure to the market," he says. "By the time they're 85, they'll have a small exposure to the market and should be invested in conservative stocks for some growth, but mostly income."