You’re finally buying the car of your dreams. This year’s model! You’ve done your homework, kicked the tires and made the salesman earn his commission answering questions. Now, at last, you’re in the driver’s seat, key in hand … just about to drive your new wheels off the lot.

But wait!

Do you really want to pay top dollar for that car—knowing it will lose a chunk of its resale value the minute it leaves the dealer? Have you stopped to look at your options? Did you consider, for instance, buying the same car from someone who’s had it three months but wants $10,000 less for it because he’s been transferred to China?

As a general rule, would you rather pay less than more?

Like cars, mutual funds have price tags attached. And, in a similar way, you can pay much less than the fair market value when you buy. You get to judge the mood of the market and figure out whether selling conditions are favourable and today’s low prices can help you make a high profit. You’re the one who determines whether this is the time for that “buy low, sell high” strategy everyone recommends.

Another way you could say it is that mutual funds have been driven off the lot. They’re still made up of profit-companies or “equities,” but the price of the funds investing in them has come down recently. Many investors who don’t understand the market panicked when that happened, pulled their money out and left town. But, as huge as that mistake was for them, it means great news for you. Bottom line, if a mutual fund was a vehicle, it means that the sleek Hummer or BMW they were driving can be yours now — for a fraction of its true price!

World-class mutual funds give you part-ownership of various companies in a range of industry sectors or even countries. Continuing with the auto analogy, you might say you’re buying an assortment of expensive vehicles you can drive to your heart’s content. Not just that, but—because you got them at such a discount—you anticipate something not normally seen in the auto industry: being able to watch the price of your purchases go up as all those underlying companies keep earning profits.

With prices lower than they’ve been in a long time and earnings starting to surge this calendar year already, smart investors see this as the perfect time to “buy low.” They realize Beamers are on sale, with price-tags we won’t likely see again.

Not everyone sees it that way though. In fact, most people want the same car you want, but the media has messed them up emotionally. Believe it or not, some people are worried that the price is too low! It makes no sense when you put it into words, but it’s true. To stay with the car-lot idea, some people are actually waiting for BMW to raise the price before they’ll be ready to buy.

And there you have it. A lot of people with little chance of seeing their money grow.

As for you and me though, we’re in luck. The guys that drove our cars off the lot are headed for China!