Chuck, I think every advisor would admit that investing requires making decisions with incomplete information. If it didn't, we shouldn't earn a greater than cash return because there would be no "risk". The best investors create a strategy and stick to it, regardless of what happens in the short-term. Unfortunately very, very, few people are able to do that. We get in our own ways and allow emotions to affect our convictions. If standard deviation can help me educate a client before those emotions appear about the potential short term performance of their portfolio and therefore help them remain rational in the moment because they're not completely caught off guard, then I see it as a valuable tool. It's not a sales pitch, it's just information.