How To Properly Invest In Index Funds – Dollar Cost Averaging

The predominant investment strategy is to invest in index funds which means that you own an index like the S&P 500, which is a basket of the 500 biggest businesses traded in the U.S. Owning part of the 500 best businesses in the U.S. is not a bad thing but there are a few things you should know before allocating your hard-earned money to index funds.

1) Investing in index funds is extremely risky

You probably read that many, even Warren Buffett says that investing in index funds is the best way to invest. However, there are many catches that go along that statement. The first thing many forget to talk about is the risk of investing in index funds. The S&P 500 has dropped 49% in 2001 and 57% in 2009. Such huge drops are extremely indicative of what can happen. And, it will certainly happen again sometimes in the future.

In both cases the S&P 500 recovered but there is absolutely no guarantee that it will do so after the next drop. For example, after the 1920s bull market, it took the S&P 500 25 years to return to the previous level.

There are also many periods of more than 10 years where stock market returns haven’t really been positive. From 2000 to 2013, from 1968 to 1982, just to give a few examples. If we adjust the returns for inflation, the periods where the actual return is zero are even longer; 2000 to 2016, 1966 to 1994 and what is also staggering is that from 1927 to 1982, inflation adjusted stock market returns have been negative.

There is only one way to properly invest in index funds and it is a good strategy if you can stick to it for your whole life. Only if you dollar cost average your investments into index funds, you will do fine over the very long term. Dollar cost averaging means that you invest a fixed amount every month no matter what is going on in the market. This way you invest when things go well but also when things don’t go that well, which is the key. If you look back to the above chart, those who invested in 1931, 1940, 1982, 2009 have reaped the best investing returns. As it is impossible to time the market, dollar cost averaging is the only way to properly invest in index funds. However, few have the discipline to do so over the long term.