I'm retired now, and have moved more into cash, and more stable dividend paying utility sector stocks that should weather the storm of a recession better than the high flying tech sector, and other sectors that depend more on people's disposable income.
It was tough seeing my retirement funds loose over 40% of their value in 2008. I added to my equity positions several times during the plunge. The market would drop 10%, I'd buy more, then see that drop another 10%, and I'd buy more, then drop again. It was stressful, and I was wondering when it would turn around. I did persevere, but I'm not going through that again, not during my retirement years.
It's a lot easier to talk about buying stocks during fire sales while your accounts plummet, than it is to actually go through it, stay the course, keeping those anxiety and stress levels
under control.