Jim - You might be right, but I think there are probably other industries / sectors that have been more severely battered who might be better long-term ploys. When you look at how devalued Oil is, LT, we still have major needs there and as long as you are staying away from those with heavy exposure to Shale, you will do good (I think). Just don't bet on one individual company, go more broad / be diversified. There are some strong financial giants who have been severely hit and are trading well below 08/09 crisis type returns (and they are extremely well capitalized to weather the storm, pay solid dividends, and generate good returns as the economy normalizes). And than on the infrastructure front, I think long term there are going to be some good investments in that sector.
I would never worry about finding the bottom in times like this, rather try and do some dollar cost averaging while macro prices are low (as long as you can hold for the long). The volatility is not done and while I'm never certain, I would suspect we have more bad days to come. The economy is going to shrink 25% in the 2nd quarter and I think we are going to see pockets of reinfection during the course of 2020 (I hope not...but I suspect we will) and I don't know that current markets reflect those things. Pick and choose those sectors you like LT but low cost index funds aren't bad either (I always think betting on the LT economy of the US is the best bet you can make...because if we are wrong...well we got way bigger fish to fry).
All that said, even if you buy today (and I think prices are probably headed more down near term than up...but I would have said that a week ago and have been dead wrong cause I didn't see this big of a dead cat bounce coming)...you are still getting a LT value when everything bounces up. I never worry of did I buy @ 30% down vs. 20% down. I'm just happy I got some of that down...because if you time a few of those in the general vicinity (and for me it is always about going in...more than timing the out because I always think you have more risk when you try and time the out...because at that point...you miss out on the LT of what the equities are going to do for your accumulation).
An investor that sits on cash is inherently going to lose over the long-run (too many times will you false time a "bottom" and miss on extended gains which are necessary for the time you never see the bottom and take a pretty immediate 20-30% beating (and those just flat out will happen). All of this of course has to align with each individuals appetite for volatility and near term needs for the funds they are investing. The more near term needs you have, the much more different and risk averse your portfolio needs to be (but you also need to really challenge what those "near-term" needs are...because if you can better protect your near term than you can be more aggressive during scarier times and in the long-run, your retirement will thank you (This last bit is probably less advice for you Jim since you are much closer to retirement but where you have pensions / other guarantees those are things you have to contemplate when you evaluate your overall exposure to risk/equities...i.e., if you already can get 60-70% of your income covered through fixed streams, you may want to be more aggressive with your equity assets knowing you could bunker down and cut your spend/liquidity for 2-3 years (if things really good rough) for the long term good of your retirement portfolio.
Also...I will have a counter to Mike's point on target date funds. If you aren't going to regularly check your 401k's, etc, a target date fund is absolutely better than what the general public will individual pick and manage to. Target dates outperform individuals 401k's by a large margin, so for some people, a target date fund is the absolute right investment choice (given their risk tolerances, knowledge of the markets, and appetite for trading on a more regular basis). Just look at the few of those funds. Vanguard has some really good, cost effective target date funds that are naturally going to manage your risks and shift exposures over time. And for those that think you should only be equities....a big reminder there is if you are inherently in equities vs. more mixed, you have very little downside buffer when the market bombs. Meaning...everything you had dropped...which is fine and it will return, but if you had some fixed income in there, you could actually leverage the safety and the lower drop you had and more strategically shift your portfolio into equities following that drop, generate higher returns on the bounce back, and than rebalance your portfolio. I.e., having some fixed income hedges some of your downside, while minimally chewing into your LT returns (if you do nothing), and, depending on your appetite, can help you be a buyer of discounted risk when times are tight.
PS: None of the above constitutes as any financial advice. Everyone needs to analyze what is individually best for them, based upon their own financial perspective, short-term and long-term goals, and of course their risk appetites, etc.