This, a 401k is a 'Buy and hold kind of thing." You want to buy when the market is hitting bottom, but in reality it's not going to change much in 40 years when your friend cashes out. You'll never be able to time it perfectly. THink of it this way, say his stocks drop another 20-30% in the next month, and say his match maxes out at $100 dollars, so he'll put in $100 this month, with a $100 dollar match and $100 next month with a $100 dollar match. That first $200 will drop to $160-140. By the time the market bottoms, he'll already be ahead of the game, and his initial contribution won't have depreciated.
and when the market starts going up again, and it will, he'll want to have as much money in there as possible.
