Over the past decade, I was continually asked by prospective clients at the beginning of every year what they should do with the cash they have been sitting on as they have been too afraid to get back into the market after the financial crisis. Year after year rolled by with sound returns missed by these individuals who sat on large cash positions. Their usual response was that they were "waiting for the right time to invest and for a 10% or 20% market sell-off to do so". Unfortunately for them, every time a ~ 10% market correction occurred they were still too afraid to get into the market as whatever event was currently occurring kept them from investing. Now that the stock market has sold off more than 20%, one would think investors would be clamoring to finally enter again. However, we know that isn't the case as more investors are currently selling than buying and individuals are again too afraid to purchase equities.
