“In the late ’90s, Sue Maniloff’s husband kept telling her how much money they were making in the stock market. ‘Get it,’ she’d say to him. ‘I want to see green. I want to see cash. I don’t care what’s on paper.’ writes Jeffrey Zaslow in today’s Wall Street Journal.

“Her father agreed with her. ‘He kept warning us over and over and over that it was time to get out,’ say Ms. Maniloff, 42, an advertising sales account executive. But her husband, Howard, 43, a senior account manager for a computer consulting firm, didn’t listen to his wife or her dad. Now, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down nearly 18% in a little more than two weeks, the argument has gained new intensity.”

” ‘Some nights, we talk about it before we go to bed,’ says Mr. Maniloff, adding that during romantic moments ‘that conversation is taboo.’ “

“That conversation is everywhere now — at family dinner tables, in marital therapists’ offices, in divorce-mediation sessions, in visits with the in-laws. Back in the good old ’90s, millions of people said to their significant others, ‘Hey, sweetheart, maybe we should take our profits.’ These days, they’re holding it over their loved ones’ heads. Their six-word battle cry: ‘I told you we should sell!’ “

“The I-told-you-sos take other forms, too. Last summer, Suzanne Wenzlaff, a 59-year-old Los Angeles dentist, thought she had an agreement with her husband, Lou, 65. The plan was that he’d invest just 25% of his IRA in tech stocks.”

“But her husband, who is also a dentist, saw opportunities and took it upon himself to put all of his nest egg in tech.”

” ‘I felt betrayed,’ Mrs. Wenzlaff says.”

“Now his IRA is worth only 25% of its value a year ago. To prevent that from happening again, Mrs. Wenzlaff made him read a book on investing, take finance-management classes and attend a ‘business meeting’ with her once a week at their dining room table, to review their finances. ‘We’re trying to salvage what’s left,’ she says. ‘It was his IRA — but it’s still our money.’ “