Trying to catch the bottom of a falling stock market is tempting for mutual fund investors, but it is often a fool’s errand

Equity-based mutual funds are an asset class meant for years and decades. On that scale, the movement of one day will not matter much. Even if you convince yourself that it does, you can hardly have enough cash to invest in a day to make an actual difference in your life. The urge to catch the bottom or top tick of the market is understandable, but often proves futile in practice.