It's Too Late to Sell

At this point I think it's a bit too late to sell. In fact, I agree with many other people, that it's time to buy:

Now Is the Time to Think Long Term and Buy Stocks - WSJ.com
Now, Now, Now Is the Time to Invest - fool.com
Those With a Sense of History May Find It’s Time to Invest - NYTimes.com

Just consider how much the market has gone down: the S&P 500 has lost about 45%. It is certainly possible that it will go further, but within 5 or 10 years, it's hard to imagine that it won't be up quite a bit.

Remember that stocks should be invested with a five to ten year timespan in mind. If someone believes that he will need money within 5 years, then he should move that money to bonds, money market, etc.

There are many people who were planning on retiring, but now their savings have greatly diminished. Many of them are still bailing out of the market, but what good will moving everything to a low yield investment do at this point? I understand moving some, because there is still risk that the market will drop further; however, moving everything out will only lead to missed opportunity to build back savings.

Even for people that are retiring, if they aren't going to need money for 5-10 years, they ought to leave it in the market -- even now, even though the market is volitile.

Retiring people will be using their money for 10-20 years (perhaps even longer, depending on health and age). If someone is planning on living for another 15 years, then why not move 1/3 of savings into less risky investments and leave the rest in stocks? Then slowly shift as the years go by.

For anyone that is young, I believe that now is the time to buy. There's plenty of time for the market to recover, so put your money in and don't worry about it. Unless you're a day trader, there's no reason to worry about the volitility that's going on.

Of course, I could be wrong and stocks could crash even further, but after 45%, it's hard to imagine.