It's impossible to know how low it will go - there is no recent historical way to predict the future. Smart guys like Warren Buffett went back in a few months ago and his fund is now at it's lowest ever, something like 71k I think. He knows the market, maybe we are there now... I'm not ready, going to take my non 401k money and keep it in CDs. I want to be able to continue to sleep at night with my nest egg.