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Dollar Cost Averaging

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  • Michael J. Brennan
  • Feifei Li
  • Walter N. Torous

Abstract

Dollar Cost Averaging is a strategy for purchasing equity securities that is widely recommended by professional investment advisors and commentators, but which has been virtually ignored by academic theorists and textbook writers. In this paper we explore whether the strategy is but another instance of irrational behavior by individual investors, or whether it is an investment heuristic that has survival value in an environment in which security prices exhibit mean reversion behavior that has only belatedly been recognized by academic theorists. Our evidence supports the view that the uninformed individual investors who follow this strategy in purchasing individual stocks to add to an existing portfolio are better off than if they followed the ‘rational’ strategies traditionally recommended by academics.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael J. Brennan & Feifei Li & Walter N. Torous, 2005. "Dollar Cost Averaging," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 9(4), pages 509-535.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:revfin:v:9:y:2005:i:4:p:509-535.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10679-005-4999-x
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Dirk Ulbricht, 2014. "John Doe's Old-Age Provision: Dollar Cost Averaging and Time Diversification," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1376, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    2. Dirk Ulbricht, 2013. "Stock Investments for Old-Age: Less Return, More Risk, and Unexpected Timing," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1324, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    3. Kirkby, J. Lars & Mitra, Sovan & Nguyen, Duy, 2020. "An analysis of dollar cost averaging and market timing investment strategies," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 286(3), pages 1168-1186.
    4. Erol Akçay & David Hirshleifer, 2021. "Social finance as cultural evolution, transmission bias, and market dynamics," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 118(26), pages 2015568118-, June.
    5. Dieci, Roberto & Schmitt, Noemi & Westerhoff, Frank, 2018. "Interactions between stock, bond and housing markets," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 43-70.
    6. Peter Heinrich & Gerhard Schwabe, 2018. "Facilitating Informed Decision-Making in Financial Service Encounters," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 60(4), pages 317-329, August.
    7. Kapalczynski, Anna & Lien, Donald, 2021. "Effectiveness of Augmented Dollar-Cost Averaging," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    8. Mingers, John & Parker, Kim T., 2010. "Should you stop investing in a sinking fund when it is sinking?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 207(1), pages 508-513, November.

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