Glossary

Dollar-cost averaging

Also called: pound-cost averaging, regular investing

Investing the same amount at regular intervals, regardless of price.

Contribute the same amount every month and you buy more units when prices are low and fewer when they are high, without judging which is which.

The arithmetic advantage is modest and often overstated. Investing a lump sum immediately has historically done better on average, simply because markets rise more often than they fall.

The real benefit is behavioural: there is no month where you have to decide whether now is a good time, and therefore no opportunity to be wrong. Removing the decision removes the mistake.

For someone investing from monthly income, this is simply what investing looks like — there is no lump sum to time.

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