How Dollar Cost Averaging Can Help You Make Smart Investments

Dollar cost averaging is a stock market investing technique where you buy a fixed dollar amount of a particular investment on a regular schedule, regardless of the share price. More shares are purchased when prices are low and fewer shares are bought when prices are high. This can help reduce the impact of volatility or price swings on purchases of financial assets.

For instance, say you plan to invest $500 over a five-month period. So that would be $100 per month. Let’s say your stock’s price varies month to month as follows: $5, $8, $5, $3, $5. You would have bought this many shares each month: 20, 12.5, 20, 33.33, 20. Mathematically, the average share price would have been $5.20. With dollar cost averaging, the average per share cost would be $4.72. So you save $0.48 per share despite taking advantage of market variations. This method does not account for the value of time or for long protected trends. Always seek a professional to develop an investment plan that fits you and your circumstances. Periodic investment plans, such as dollar cost averaging, do not assure a profit or protect against a loss in declining markets.

This strategy involves continuous investment so the investors should consider his or her ability to continue purchases through periods of low price levels. We can help so give us a call today.

Kevin Roberts

P: 502-373-1030
Risk management, estate planning, financial advisor
Louiseville, KY