What Is Dollar Cost Averaging?
53What is Dollar Cost Averaging?
Dollar cost averaging is the periodic investing of a specific amount of money regardless of the share value of your investment(s) - e.g., mutual funds, etf's, and regular stocks.
For example: Regardless of how the markets are doing you can decide to invest $100 per month in a specific mutual fund.
Now what is a Mutual Fund? Well a mutual fund is an investment that pools money from many investors and employs a professional fund manager to buy and sell securities on the investors' behalf. The do charge a fee to manage the fund though.
To implement dollar cost averaging you simply have to deposit money (i.e $100.00) to the fund each and every month. This can be set up for automatic withdrawal from your checking account and deposit that into your funds account.
So how does dolar cost averaging (DCA) work? Well you simply buy more shares when the shares price is low and fewer shares when the mutal funds price is higher.
DCA Example:
You invest $100 the first month and shares are at $1.00. That means that you buy 100 shares of that fund. The next month the shares price goes up to $2.00 so you buy 50 shares that month. Now you have a total of 150 shares and your average price per share is $1.50. Thus, over time you will buy shares at less than the average share price over that same time period.
Bottom Line:
ROI - return on investment - is boosted by a small amount relative to the average. Your average price per share is lowered.
To Summarize
- Dollar Cost Averaging - DCA - is the periodic nvestment of a specific amount of money regardless of the share value
- DCA automatically buys below the average share price
- DCA can be set up to be completely automatic
- DCA is the easiest automatic investment strategy
- DCA is a buy low, buy less higher technique
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- Advantages of Index Mutual Funds
Investing in index mutual funds can be a great way of making profits. Actually the said funds are considered a type of mutual fund wherein a collective investment scheme is utilized. Index funds basically invest in specific kinds of stocks which belong to a particular index in the stock market. Actually the said funds are available from various investment mangers. The good thing about the investment is the little involvement of human decisions. Most index funds rely only on computer models. That's why a passive management can be seen in this type of investment. In purchasing or selling of stocks, you don't have to consider too many factors. Just depend on the computer model and you're through with it. The best thing with index mutual funds is the absence of active management. You don't have to keep track of all the stocks in the financial market. The most common indices used are S&p500, FTSE 100 and others. With the absence of active management, it brings about lots of benefits to the investor. You will truly appreciate investment in index mutual funds in the forms of its advantages. First advantage is the simplicity in the investment procedure. You can easily understand the trade even though you are only an amateur. Managing your investment can be made easy. Once you've understand the objective, all will be easier for you to deal. The most important thing is determining the index target. When you can identify the target, you will then know what securities to hold. In addition, you don't have to pay lots of attention to the fund. Upon establishing a target, you'll feel confident in your investments. Just as long as your investments closely mirror the market as a whole, your investment will be safe. You don't have to worry a lot whether you'll be losing or not. Second, the fees you will be paying are totally low. This is due to the fact of the lack of active management. This is really good news to people who are thinking on investing in index mutual funds. Moreover, in the said fund, the quantity is known pertaining to the composition of the target index thus running the fund is easier for the manager. The fund manager will then be imposing a much lower fee compared to other kinds of investments to the investors. They don't have to do lots of research with regards to the fund. Charging a lower fee is thus appropriate Third, there are no possibilities for drifting in styles. If you will notice, other kinds of mutual funds easily drift styles. When we mean drifting, it connotes getting out of the desired style. The bad thing about drifting is the reduction on the diversification of the portfolio. By reducing the diversity, the risk in your investment will therefore increase. But in case of index mutual funds, there's no room for that- diversification of portfolio is even increased in this manner. If you really want to invest in mutual fund, choose index fund instead of others. courtesy of http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rick_Goldfeller
- Mutual Fund Investment With Zero Entry Load
If any investor makes investment in any mutual fund scheme, in India, through broker it attracts entry load normally @ 2.25%. The broker gets commission from Asset Management Company normally @ 2% to 2.25% or even more depending on the performance of the distributor. Since the entry load is deducted investment amount reduces to that extent. Why investor is investing through broker is that he believes that broker is providing him advice for selection of right mutual fund scheme, he expect after sales service and off course marketing skills of broker. In the interest of Investors Securities & Exchange Board of India has issued guidelines according to which if anyone invests directly through Fund House in Mutual Fund Scheme there shall be NO ENTRY LOAD will be applied. It means entire amount will go to investment. These guidelines are certainly beneficial for the investor. But only 5% of Investors are availing this facility, mainly because investors do not get after sales service from the fund house. In addition to it those who are aware of the market and mutual fund are generally opting for direct investment. If investor gets advice plus value added services with option of availing no entry load facility he will certainly think for the same. It is the best option available for investors to invest in Mutual Fund without paying any charges for the same. Some brokers have already started giving this facility to their investors of making investment without paying any entry load in this case they only expect from the investor to transfer their direct investment through the concern broker. courtesy of http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sadanand_Thakur
- Best Performing Mutual Funds - Tips to Finding the Top Mutual Funds to Invest In
Mutual funds are an excellent investment vehicle and should seriously be considered as part of your portfolio if you want to be a successful investor. The benefits of finding the best performing mutual funds will allow you to diversify your investments while significantly reducing your risk. While the current trend is to simply look at the past performance of a particular fund, this method simply does not work as what was successful in the past may not work as well in the future. Even looking at trade volume is a poor indicator of how well a mutual fund will perform. So given these circumstances, how can you absolutely determine the best performing mutual funds? The short answer is that the best mutual funds will depend on what you intend to invest in whether it is a fund that specializes in stocks or bonds, and also how much risk you're willing to take. With that said, there are several companies that analyze in detail thousands of available funds and assign them rankings based on very specific criteria. One such company is Morningstar that uses a simple star rating system to rate particular funds based on past performance and current trading value. Another place to finding the best performing mutual funds is Lipper Leader Fund ratings which is similar to Morningstar but does things a little bit differently. They use five criteria in rating funds from total return, consistent return, preservation, tax efficiency and expense. These factors combined helped to draw up a better picture of how well a mutual fund has performed in the past and how likely it is to perform in the future. In addition, there are also business periodicals such as Business Week and the Wall Street Journal that offer invaluable insight into popular mutual funds. The bottom line to finding the best performing mutual funds is to thoroughly do your research behind a fund that you are interested in and combining data from different sources as to whether the fund is a smart investment. Which fund you invest in ultimately depends on you. One of the most essential factors is doing thorough research into the board of advisory. Be sure that they have a track record of proven success and that they have adequate experience. courtesy of http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Warren_Parker
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