Advice for a market débutant

[Fudo_Myou]

Hi. Having gotten serious about saving in recent years, I'm now looking to start accumulating some stocks. I'm just south of 40, and this is my retirement / unforeseen disaster fund, so we're (hopefully) talking very long term here. I have around 120k at the moment, to which I'm currently adding 30k+ a year.

The stocks I've got my eye on at the moment are TEL, RYM, IFT, POT, and maybe TTK, SKC, CNU. As a non-resident, I won't benefit from imputation credits, but only pay 15% non-resident withholding tax on dividends (and no tax in Japan), making growth and no/low-imp stocks attractive.

However, looking at market trends, I get the impression that now is the wrong point in the cycle to be entering the market. I wonder if I'd be better off sitting on the sidelines for the next 12, 18 or however many months it takes for things to play out, then doing a little bargain shopping in the next accumulation phase. Once I buy, I'm generally looking to hold for a long time (Yes, I'm currently reading Benjamin Graham).

Are my assumptions reasonable? And, if keeping my powder dry is the best short-med. term strategy, any suggestions on where to park my money? Any thoughts / advice would be appreciated.