the losses. It's someone I know personally and she isn't relying on professional expertise from me (I have little to none).

I told her first and foremost to make sure she's old enough to withdraw the money without the hefty early withdrawal tax penalty. I told her I thought the penalty stopped at age 59, but I'm not sure and she needs to check. If she's too young to withdraw, she should leave the money in the IRA almost no matter what because the penalty is steep.

I also told her if she can hang on 5 or 10 years without needing the money, she should wait because chances are it will bounce back up. If she pulls it all out now and tries to buy back in to the stock market when it rebounds, she'll lose a lot of shares which = lost money.

What am I missing?