I dusted off my analyst skills and crunched some data...
Since October 1, 1928, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has hit a 5 year low 28 times, including today. Those days all clustered around three previous periods:
April 1942
May 1970
October of 1974
Even the crash of '87 didn't put us anywhere near historical 5 year lows for that period--investors were still way ahead.
If you went back put money into the market right at the close of any day that the market hit a 5 year low, here's what your returns would look like over the next year:
Average 1 year return: 36.1%
Average 3 year return: 13.3%
Even the worst cases didn't look so bad:
Minimum 1 year return: 16.5%
Minimum 3 year return: 9.1%
If I had any extra cash right now, I'd be a buyer.