For those of us who can leverage easily off our properties or stocks through a private bank, I would rather increase my overall leverage, say to 50% during bad economic periods which affects both property and stock markets, and reduce to about 15% when I think the economy is overheating and markets are at a high. Similarly, I buy high beta investments (small caps) when things are really dire and retreat to defensive high dividend plays (banks, telcos) when the market is overheating. Haven't always practiced what I preach because of "Greed" and "Fear", but when I do, which is more often than not, it works incredibly well. I think were at a midpoint now and those who sold out and are waiting sold out too early and are going to wait for a long long time. The danger is that they wait so long that they get itchy and plunge back in right before the crash. Haha