A decent number of folks wrongly conclude that they are too late, and no one wants to be the exit liquidity of others.
Yet, at the same time, if they at least appreciate that their failure to buy bitcoin is only preparing for down, and they are failing to prepare for up.. then maybe they could be motivated to buy some in order to prepare for up. but part of the problem is that they think that they don't need to prepare for up, and they wrongly believe that they are not prejudiced if they don't prepare for up... which yeah, 5-10 years down the road or later, they may well come to realize how much they fucked themselves by continuing to fail/refuse to act to at least get started, even if it is just $30 per week.. even while we know they are easily capable to do $100 per week..
I agree with you. Many individuals look at Bitcoin now and believe they have already missed their chance. They notice the price and believe it is too much or that they are too late to profit from it. Instead of taking action, they just sit back and deceive themselves that it is no longer worth investing. However, they are preparing themselves for future failures. As you said, they are just preparing for the down because they are not ready for the up. And indeed, some individuals don't see the benefit of preparing for the future, when things may improve or prices may rise. Many of them will look back in 5 to 10 years and wish they had started earlier, even if it was something small.
People always underestimate the value of consistency. Saving or investing at least $30 every week can build up something over time. However, many of them refuse to take the first step, some people even fool themselves to believe they don't have enough money when in real life, they spend more on unnecessary things. However, waiting will only leave people behind. It's better to take small steps now to prepare for the future than to sit back and complain later when they notice how much opportunity they missed.