In my latest podcast, I addressed a common question from both readers and clients:
“If I have a large sum of cash to invest, is it better to put it into the market all at once, or invest it gradually to take advantage of dollar cost averaging?”
Dollar-cost averaging, or DCA, is a strategy for investing gradually, with the goal of spreading out your risk and allowing you to take advantage of volatility. Many people seem to take it for granted that dollar-cost averaging has almost magical properties—that it reduces risk and leads to higher returns. In fact, while DCA can be a useful strategy, it’s often overrated—or at least misunderstood. So let’s consider when it might be appropriate, and what to expect if you use the strategy.
The two flavours of DCA
The first thing we need to clarify is that the term dollar-cost averaging can be applied to two quite different strategies.
The first is related to making regular contributions of new money, the way many people do with workplace savings plans. You might have $500 from every paycheque go into your group RRSP, and this new money then gets invested in a portfolio of mutual funds. Because you’re saving a fixed dollar amount with every paycheque, you’ll be buying more mutual fund shares when markets are down, and fewer when they’re up—which is a good thing.
The second type of dollar-cost averaging involves investing a large sum of cash, perhaps from the sale of a home or business, a pension payout, an inheritance, or some other windfall.
It’s really only this latter type of DCA that involves an actual decision. After all, if you’re a salaried employee who gets paid once or twice a month, what alternative do you have to gradual investing? If you want to save $6,000 a year, for example, chances are the only way you can do this is to put aside $500 a month as you earn it. Whether these 12 contributions will lead to higher returns than a $6,000 contribution in January is a moot point, because the lump sum isn’t an option. Bottom line, it’s a great idea to make payroll contributions, but the benefit comes from regular savings, not from dollar-cost averaging.
So let’s turn our attention the more controversial strategy: investing a lump sum gradually rather than all at once.
Math meets psychology
Let’s say you receive an inheritance of $200,000 in cash, and that this represents a large share of your overall net worth. You can be forgiven for being nervous about investing a chunk of change like that all at once. If markets were to plummet in the following weeks or months, you’d suffer a punishing loss and would probably feel a deep, painful regret. So if you’re familiar with dollar-cost averaging, you might consider investing your lump sum gradually—say, in instalments of 25% separated by three-month intervals. That way if there’s an imminent market correction your losses will be reduced, and you’ll have the opportunity to invest part of your cash at lower prices.
Some investors believe that such a strategy is likely to result in higher returns, but the research is pretty clear that most of the time it won’t. Studies comparing DCA to lump-sum investing over various historical periods are quite consistent in their findings. A recent paper from Vanguard is typical: using data from the U.S., UK and Australia, the researchers compared the results of investing a lump sum into a balanced portfolio compared with using DCA over 12 months. In all three countries, the lump-sum strategy came out ahead about two-thirds of the time, regardless of the target mix of stocks and bonds.
Virtually all similar studies come to the same conclusion: DCA does not usually lead to higher returns. On the contrary, lump-sum investing is at least a two-to-one favorite, for the simple reason that markets go up more often than they go down. You put the odds in your favour when you invest money as soon as you receive it.
But that’s the mathematical argument, and it ignores the human factors. I’ve worked directly with many investors who have had six- and even seven-figure sums of cash to invest, and believe me, this is not an easy thing to do. You need an iron stomach, and academic studies don’t reduce the anxiety. Sure, the lump sum comes out ahead two-thirds of the time, but the other one-third of the time you could lose a huge amount of your nest egg.
Think of it this way: if you play Russian roulette you’ll win five times out of six, but I’m guessing those odds are not tempting you to play.
If you use DCA, do it right
So if you find yourself with a large amount of cash and you’re nervous about investing it all at one, there’s nothing wrong with using dollar-cost averaging. Just be clear that your goal is not to increase returns: it’s simply to reduce the stress and the likelihood of regret. Even the Vanguard paper above acknowledges that DCA usually leads to lower returns, but concedes that “these costs may be reasonable if a systematic implementation plan helps an investor overcome any paralyzing fears of regret.”
Note their use of the term “systematic,” because this is key. If you decide to use dollar-cost averaging, it’s important to draw up a plan for doing so. This plan should have nothing to do with the relative prices of stocks: for example, don’t tell yourself you’re going to invest 20% of your cash now and the next 20% only after markets have fallen 10%. Because it’s possible that prices won’t ever be 10% lower and you’ll continue to sit in cash while the markets run away on you.
Nor should you base your DCA strategy on specific events, such as “I’ll invest some now and some after the election,” or after the next central bank’s next interest rate announcement. Because the markets have already anticipated whatever you think is going to happen, and very often this turns out to be wrong anyway.
Whatever you do, don’t rely on vague criteria like, “I’ll invest the rest when things settle down and I feel more comfortable.” If you do that, you’ll find yourself in an impossible situation: if markets rise sharply, you’ll be worried we’re overdue for a correction. And if markets fall sharply, you’ll worry they’ll go down further. I’ve seen it happen, and it’s a recipe for paralysis.
Here’s an example of how to employ DCA more systematically. Say you have $200,000 to invest and you eventually want a portfolio of 60% equities and 40% fixed income. I suggest you start by investing all of the fixed income ($80,000 in this case). Although bonds can certainly move up and down in value, their fluctuations are very small compared with those of equities. So just go all in on the fixed income and use DCA with the $120,000 you plan to invest in equities.
Of that amount, invest $40,000 immediately, another $40,000 in three months, and the final $40,000 three months after that. Put that dates on the calendar and ignore the financial news on those days or you may try to talk yourself out of it.
Sure, if a bear market strikes in six months your portfolio will fall in value, but if you’re a long-term investor you need to be prepared for that at any time. If you’re not able to endure that kind of loss, then your 60% equity target is too aggressive.
Another caveat: dollar-cost averaging is not stress-free. Indeed, I like to say that it just turns one difficult decision into three or four. I have worked with investors who planned to invest a large sum gradually on specific dates and then backed out after the first or second tranche—they insisted on delaying the next installment until it “felt like the right time,” which of course, it never does.
Investing a large amount of cash is always going to make you nervous, and that’s OK. If dollar-cost averaging helps, then embrace it. It’s not optimal and probably won’t lead to higher returns, but having a structured plan in place does make it more likely that you’ll follow it through.
Seems like a reasonable approach to me. My $200,000 was $300,000 four short years ago. My advisor had me in Trident Global Opportunities Fund which is remarkably down in the past 10 years. I am in my early fifties and way behind on my goals and need to get on track. Of course being down by 1/3, the prospect of being down another 30% is cause for alarm so the DCA route is something for me to consider. Really bummed out as if I did a little work on my own, I should be sitting on a cool half million today and not as concerned that we are 10 years into a up market. Thanks for all your insights and I’ll try to stay off the ledge.
Thanks, I was wondering about this topic for cashing out my pension before I hit 50 and putting it into a LIRA.
In that boat right now, so very timely article.
Thanks.
Thanks, I just started on my DIY couch potato portfolio, and invested 40k in a one day, in 4 ETFs. This article came as a thought reinforcement !!
The thing is that you never know when the market will take a turn for the worse. Do you think nobody went “all in” the first half of 2008, or around 2000? The CAPE is higher now than in any point in history except 2000. It’s a gamble. Long-term, you’ll be fine, but short-term, there could be some serious pain.
Dan,
This lump sum investing issue comes up a lot in your blog. I’ve commented on it before, although I didn’t get much response. I still feel that there is another side to this argument that should be considered.
Clearly, investors need an asset allocation with a risk level that they feel comfortable with. Logically, if someone is comfortable with the risk level of how their life savings are currently allocated, then they should also be comfortable with investing a new lump sum the same way. If they’re not, then there’s a problem.
If you don’t feel comfortable investing new money according to your existing asset allocation, then you have too much risk. You need to come up with a new, lower risk asset allocation and invest your lump sum accordingly. If you’re still not comfortable, you need to keep lowering your risk until you do feel comfortable.
I worry that having people invest a lump sum gradually serves only to move them into investments that are riskier than they are comfortable with.
@Darren: I don’t disagree with you in theory. But in practice it is very difficult to pull the trigger on a single large transaction, and so DCA can lower the anxiety, even if it does not lower the risk.
Assume you held a 60/40 portfolio you had built up over the course of many years. Now assume you were all in cash before implementing a 60/40 portfolio yesterday. Over the next few weeks, the markets fall 10%. In which situation are you more likely to be filled regret and therefore likely to sell in a panic? Same person, same portfolio, but different situations can lead you to feel very differently about your choices.
I thought that, having carefully absorbed the essence of Couch Potato Wisdom at this site (1 you can’t predict the future, 2 Diversify at home and abroad wisely and cheaply 3 Choose an asset allocation that matches your life situation and which you can live with happily) there was hardly any more further practical information to learn here, nor the need for it.
But you’ve further enlightened me again. This is a solid exposition in the hows and whys of DCA, and a telling example of the difference between sterile theoretical knowledge and gritty, practical I’m-glad-I was-shown-how type of advice!
I really appreciate the careful distinction you make between the intent to increase the chance of gain (not), to decrease the risk of loss (not), and to reduce the likelihood of and worry about regret (yes) — a really subtle but essential distinction that I might have puzzled over forever on my own without being able to flesh out this human reality.
The psychology of investing is quite complicated. It involves emotions and intuition, but the strategies to deal with it often turn out to be counter intuitive!
Great Article! I can see how DCA – in theory – makes lower returns over lump sum investing if there are no sudden market changes, and how @Darren’s argument makes sense, but I feel like I would still be hesitant to throw a huge sum of money into the market all at once.
Following the dialog between Darren and CCP, I see both points of view. I think it’s possible for both sides to be right. Darren is statistically and mathematically correct. If you have new cash, maximizing the probability of gain is achieved by investing immediately into your predetermined asset allocation, which, too be sure, was previously well thought over and has withstood the test of all possible thought experiments, and has come out satisfactory.
CCP has pointed out the difficulty of applying theory to practice, and relates that in his experience with real life investors, lump sum investing often, maybe even usually, leads to considerable worry about potential loss. As Dan’s considerable experience attests, this distress, “irrational” though it may be, is very real. This worry can be mitigated by DCA strategies.
However, Darren has thought long and hard through all this, and is driven by his faith in clean mathematical probabilities. In other words, his worry has been alleviated by his carefully thought out decision to live with his given fixed asset allocation. It’s not that he believes he is immune to loss. But he knows that with his preparation, thoughtfulness and final decision he has done everything he can to deal with the vagaries of the future and his emotions regarding this, and so he knows that he need not second guess himself, because he knows that he couldn’t come up with a better strategy, given that the future is unknown. Therefore he has immunized himself, as best as anyone can, to the crippling fear of regret that CCPs solution of DCA is intended to protect against.
His comment also rings true about one’s long term asset allocation comfort zone not changing whether or not one has recently made a large contribution. Darren is likely to be a minority, but in that solidity of belief, is a “hard-core” Couch Potato.
So, listening to both sides, both solid pieces of careful reasoning and advice, it really comes down to fully knowing yourself. Not what you should be able to live with, but what you truly think you can live with. Believing and accepting the CCP philosophy was a difficult enough leap from the commonly held intuitive belief system that surely one can glean useful clues about the future, especially if you can find enough highly paid experts. So maybe residual worry about lump sum investing merely represents lingering belief that we “should” know how better to invest in the short term without initially committing too much of our capital, although we had, with another part of our brain, earlier established that we could live with such-and-such asset allocation. We should not beat ourselves up with this cognitive dissonance, if that’s indeed what we have. That’s just what what our belief system is capable of, for now. Choose the appropriate strategy that is kindest to your system.
@Dan: Fair enough. You deal with people in this situation a lot; I only have myself to deal with.
@Oldie: I wasn’t trying to suggest that I’m rational and Dan’s clients aren’t. My point is that maybe people who fear investing a lump sum according to their existing asset allocation are being perfectly rational – they just have too much risk.
@Darren: No criticism was implied towards thinkers of either camp. Neither would I denigrate anyone that in this context could be described as “irrational” or at least “inconsistent”. There’s nothing wrong or inferior about being so, although it may lead to discomfort or worry. If one’s thoughts are thus, then that’s what they are, and one has to deal with it. DCA appears to be a reasonable way to do so.
But I also appreciate your further comment that seeks to align rationality a little further — the fear of the investor that seeks DCA as a protection from worry could really be a symptom of having too aggressive an asset allocation mix for comfort, without the investor being aware that this is so. I really can’t find a reasonable logical argument against that.
What about value averaging? I just read the four pillars of investing by William Bernstein, and he recommends investing a lump sum over 2 to 3 years with quarterly additions based on maintaining a prespecified value of your asset and allocations as opposed to fixed dollar amount inputs.
@Dan: I suppose that’s fine, although I think two to three years is probably too long to drag it out.
Did you see this?
https://www.vanguardcanada.ca/individual/etfs/about-our-asset-allocation-etfs.htm
Sounds like a serious contender to replace Tangerine in the One Fund solution.
Ooh.. interesting. That really appeals to me for several reasons. Love to get your take on that Dan vs the 3 fund CCP model especially since there are a couple of cad hedged in the mix. I love simplicity in my life wherever possible.
Going back the last 20 years there were two periods where investing lump some didn’t work out so well: early 2000 and 2006/2007
But yeah, really hard psychologically.
If I was worried so much and had decision I would invest somewhat conservatively with maybe 30-40% bonds so I wasn’t worried so much about making a mistake if bear market comes.
Any chance you can take a look at the new Vanguard all-in-one ETFs? Specifically backtesting returns?
Kind of depends on where the overall markets are in a particular cycle. DCAing when ‘the markets’ are at all time historical highs would seem to make sense, especially during the Trump Effect laced with geopolitical turmoil. Only an idiot would deploy 200K of new money, never been exposed to the stock market in January or February of 2018 in a fund or stock at what is likely the highest point ever? Now, since the markets always with 100% certainty reach new historical highs eventually, then lump sum depositing money never exposed to 100% equities when the markets are lower than their historical highs will be a better risk over time. That said, a 20% loss requires a 30% return just to stay even, so averaging into anything at anytime is just prudent to take unfortunate timing off the table in some way.
I have read all the comments and appreciate the various insights. Here’s another option I just considered and would appreciate your feedback.
I am in my early thirties and was initially feeling comfortable doing a lump sum with a 90/10 split (equities to bonds) long term. I am, however, hesitant because of the cyclical nature of major market corrections (one roughly every 10 years or so). I know timing is the last thing you want to do with a long term approach, and I could stomach a hypothetical correction within 1-2 years (worst case) after my lump sum investment now knowing that over the course of +20 years I’ll be still sitting pretty.
What about adopting a more conservative allocation for the lump sum, say 70/30, then adjusting to a 90/10 after a correction? I would be comfortable holding this allocation for the next 10 years knowing that I would be better insulated against a crash.
Thoughts?
the best thing about that type of dollar-cost averaging is actually psychological, not financial. For those of us who are risk-averse, especially folks who are new to investing, it’s a good way to make it less scary to put a large sum into the market.
Hello,
I contribute $2000 to msy self directed RRSP every month.. Ihave a lot of unused contribution. I follow coach potato strategy. Should I buy (and try to balance at the same time) my holdings every month or can I keep the cash for say 4-5 months inside my RRSP and then purchase )and rebalance). Is there any difference between above two strategies?
Thank you
@Reza: If you are using index mutual funds or a zero-commission brokerage, then buying every month is best. But if you are paying $10 per ETF trade, then you would need to make far fewer trades. In the latter case, buying two or three times per year is likely to be more cost-effective.
I think I have to agree with Brian. I think you do have to be comfortable with your decision!. I personally have roughly 60k in new funds to invest through a TFSA. I’m 30 and have another 50k set aside for a house, and another 50k set aside for emergencies (I’m extremely risk averse). I’ve started simply investing at 1k a month into an index fund. I feel very comfortable with that, and if in 6 years the markets are still rising by some absolutely crazy happening, at least I’ll still have slept LIKE A BABY the entire 6 years while still contributing and continuing to contribute to my retirement. If the market does bottom out in two years, I have nothing to feel bad about, and then can throw a lump sum into the index fund I’m using. All personal preference, but I’d really question how you’ll feel if your moneys cut in half!
Keep in mind I do agree their is no wrong answer, either way it’s important to get your money into the market…. Again though as a former business owner who’s taken some risks and learned some lessons, I can honestly say sound sleep far outweighs the risk of dumping a huge sum of money into equities at the height of a bull market.
Cheers
There are two claims you mention that are sometimes made about DCA: ‘that it reduces risk and leads to higher returns.’
It’s clear from your explanation and the data you link to that the second claim is false, that it does not lead to higher returns if it means holding onto part of a lump sum.
But what about the first claim: lower risk? That’s a legitimate mathematical thing that can be measured. You speak about the psychology of it, but what about the actual math? Risk isn’t only about perception, it can be measured at least in retrospect. And loss of money has consequences beyond simply scaring you off investing.
So would your example example investor who got an inheritance have a measurably lower probability of losing money, or not?
That question seems to be key!
@TO_Ont: Good questions, and I do think it is fair to say that DCA reduces risk in some ways, simply because it means being in cash for some periods. If you use DCA over a period of, say, one year, then you have less money in the market during that 12 months than a person who invested the lump sum on Day 1. So in that sense, sure, you will lose less money if markets fall. Less money in the market always means less risk. That’s why market timing strategies, while unlikely to beat buy-and-hold over the long term, are actually less risky, because they are in cash for part of the time.
There have been some studies showing that DCA strategies result in a narrower range of possible outcomes, which can also be considered a reduction of risk.
Just remember that once the DCA period is over, the risk level is the same as it was for the person who invested the lump sum. So eventually you need to be prepared for the possibility of large losses in the portfolio. If you’re nervous about investing an inheritance in equities as a lump sum today, are you confident that you will be comfortable with that money in equities a year from now? Vanguard had a good way of putting this in a white paper called “Dollar-cost averaging just means taking risk later.”
https://personal.vanguard.com/pdf/s315.pdf
Due to analysis paralysis and reading too many doomsday articles over the last few years, I am sitting on too much cash; I guess they call it “dry powder” in your business. I know this is an enviable state for most people but I feel like a loser having missed out on years of gains. Of course hindsight is 20/20.
Fortunately, I stumbled across your website and have seen the error in my ways. I am going to start regular contributions as though I had done it right all along. The question is what to do about the excess cash. This article is excellent and I am definitely in the category of using DCA to minimize my psychological pain.
My plan is to take advantage of the dips and buy only on those days. And the bigger the dip, the bigger the purchase. I am disciplined enough to do this. My thinking is that if the market generally goes up over the time it takes me to move the cash in then I would be minimizing the extra cost than if I had just done a lump sum at the start. If the markets go down then I am better off than an initial lump sum and maybe better off than regular purchases that do not take the dips into account. Has anyone studied this idea of DCA only on the down days? Any flaws in my idea?
@Dan too: The problem with the “buy the dips” plan is that there may not be enough dips to get all of your cash invested. The market can continue to climb and you’ll just end up further behind, waiting and waiting.
As someone who trades for clients almost every day, take my word for it: the “down day” is a mental construct. If the market goes up 3% or 4% between Monday and Thursday and then falls 2% on Frida (a “down day”), you would still have been better off buying on Monday.
The DCA strategy I recommend requires you to pick a schedule and stick to it. If you have $200K to invest, then you’d invest $40,000 every two months and be fully invested in eight months. Or use more frequent, smaller amounts. The details don’t matter, but the discipline does. Otherwise, you’re not doing DCA, you’re just timing the market.