When down markets end, almost all investors regret not buying during the hard times. Too many investors want to wait until they are sure values won’t fall any more. But by that time, they probably have climbed back up. Then everybody wants back in, and the bargain goes away like a wet spot on a blackboard. Timing markets is impossible. What you need to do is buy when the numbers are good enough, not try to time it perfectly such that the numbers won’t get any better. In some markets today, the numbers are good enough regardless of whether they will get even better in those markets in the future.