TLDR: Real investors are not "Timing the Market." It's just not easy to find reasonable prospects for good returns right now. There are some things that I have bought in a big way this year and last year, and I plan to hold and buy more if there is a huge market meltdown. But in general, this is not a time to be swinging for the fences.

Investing is buying well, usually when there is fear or uncertainty around the long-term viability of a company or an asset like an apartment complex, a farm, or a house. Good Investors can focus on something where they have a good degree of understanding and then buy it when everyone thinks the sun will never come out, but where conversely they have a reasonable degree of certainty or assurance that the sun will come out again and things will go back to normal.

The problem I have with the general dialogue is that these people say Warren Buffett or Howard Marks advocate timing the market. They do no such thing because there is no way for them to know what macro events will hit the market in any given day, week, month, year or decade. They also can't possibly understand the economics of *ALL* of the things. What Buffett does is buy really amazing companies when they are selling at a really fair price. He won't lose money, but has a high chance of a good return. Then usually, because the companies are wonderful, they end up producing spectacular returns. The opportunity usually only presents itself when there is lots of fear.

There is not much fear today and as it happens there are not many deals today. Moreover, the fair deals, or less crappy deals, are hard to find. Easier for smarter investors--not me. Buffett waits for things that are in his wheelhouse and things that seem obvious. That's why he's got a huge percentage of his portfolio in cash right now. He's just waiting. He might wait for a while, but he will wait until there are good deals.

Warren Buffett advocates for most people to simply DCA the SPY over many years, even though he has personally never done such a thing. He just knows that people make up the market and that they are in general not patient enough so, just opt for a 7% return over your lifetime of work and then do a job you really love.

It's ok that people advocate for this, but it is what the herd is doing. Definitely don't sell when this thing crashes. Buy more and hold for a loooooong time.