Investing For Dummies. Eric Tyson

investment just before a major drop. Thus, DCA helps shy investors psychologically ease into riskier investments.

      DCA is made to order for skittish investors with large lump sums of money sitting in safe investments like CDs or savings accounts. For example, using DCA, an investor with $100,000 to invest in stock funds can feed her money into investments gradually — say, at the rate of $12,500 or so quarterly over two years — instead of investing her entire $100,000 in stocks at once and possibly buying all of her shares at or near a market peak. Most large investment companies, especially mutual funds, allow investors to establish automatic investment plans so the DCA occurs without an investor’s ongoing involvement.

      Of course, like any risk-reducing investment strategy, DCA has drawbacks. If growth investments appreciate (as they’re supposed to), a DCA investor misses out on earning higher returns on his money awaiting investment. Finance professors Richard E. Williams and Peter W. Bacon found that approximately two-thirds of the time, a lump-sum U.S. stock market investor earned higher first-year returns than an investor who fed the money in monthly over the first year.

However, knowing that you’ll probably be ahead most of the time if you dump a lump sum into the stock market is little solace if you happen to invest just before a major plunge in prices. In the fall of 1987, the U.S. stock market, as measured by the Dow Jones Industrial Average, plummeted 36 percent, and from late 2007 to early 2009, the market shed 55 percent of its value. The COVID-19 stock market slide, which lopped 36 percent off the Dow’s value in early 2020, was another such period.

      So investors who fear that stocks are due for such a major correction should practice DCA, right? Well, not so fast. Apprehensive investors who shun lump-sum investments and use DCA are more likely to stop the DCA investment process if prices plunge, thereby defeating the benefit of doing DCA during a declining market.

      So what’s an investor with a lump sum of money to do?

       First, weigh the significance of the lump sum to you. Although $100,000 is a big chunk of most people’s net worth, it’s only 10 percent if your net worth is $1,000,000. It’s not worth a millionaire’s time to use DCA for $100,000. If the cash you have to invest is less than a quarter of your net worth, you may not want to bother with DCA.

       Second, consider how aggressively you invest (or invested) your money. For example, if you aggressively invested your money through an employer’s retirement plan that you roll over, don’t waste your time on DCA.

      DCA makes sense for investors with a large chunk of their net worth in cash who want to minimize the risk of transferring that cash to riskier investments, such as stocks. If you fancy yourself a market prognosticator, you can also assess the current valuation of stocks. Thinking that stocks are pricey (and thus riper for a fall) increases the appeal of DCA.

      

If you use DCA too quickly, you may not give the market sufficient time for a correction to unfold, during and after which some of the DCA purchases may take place. If you practice DCA over too long of a period of time, you may miss a major upswing in stock prices. I suggest using DCA over one to two years to strike a balance.

      As for the times of the year that you should use DCA, mutual fund and exchange-traded fund investors should use DCA early in each calendar quarter because funds that make taxable distributions tend to do so late in the quarter.

      Your money that awaits investment in DCA should have a suitable parking place. Select a high-yielding money market fund that’s appropriate for your tax situation.

One last critical point: When you use DCA, establish an automatic investment plan so you’re less likely to chicken out. And for the more courageous, you may want to try an alternative strategy to DCA — value averaging, which allows you to invest more if prices are falling and invest less if prices are rising.

      Suppose, for example, that you want to value-average $500 per quarter into an aggressive stock fund. After your first quarterly $500 investment, the fund drops 10 percent, reducing your account balance to $450. Value averaging suggests that you invest $500 the next quarter plus another $50 to make up the shortfall. (Conversely, if the fund value had increased to $550 after your first investment, you would invest only $450 in the second round.) Increasing the amount that you invest requires confidence when prices fall, but doing so magnifies your returns when prices ultimately turn around.

Treading Carefully When Investing for College

      

Many well-intentioned parents want to save for their children’s future educational expenses. The mistake they often make, however, is putting money in accounts in their child’s name (in so-called custodial accounts) or saving outside of retirement accounts in general.

      The more money you accumulate outside tax-sheltered retirement accounts, the greater the price colleges will charge you. Don’t make the additional error of assuming that financial aid is only for the poor. Many middle-income and even some modestly affluent families qualify for some aid, which can include grants and loans available, even if you’re not deemed financially needy.

      Under the current financial needs analysis that most colleges use in awarding financial aid, the value of your retirement plan is not considered an asset. Money that you save outside of retirement accounts, including money in the child’s name, is counted as an asset and reduces eligibility for financial aid.

      Also, be aware that your family’s assets, for purposes of financial aid determination, also generally include equity in real estate and businesses that you own. Although the federal financial aid analysis no longer counts equity in your primary residence as an asset, many private (independent) schools continue to ask parents for this information when they make their own financial aid determinations. Thus, paying down your home mortgage more quickly instead of funding retirement accounts can harm you financially for college. You may end up paying higher college prices and pay more in taxes.

Don’t forgo contributing to your own retirement savings plan(s) in order to save money in a non-retirement account for your children’s college expenses. When you do, you pay higher taxes both on your current income and on the interest and growth of this money. In addition to paying higher taxes, you’re expected to contribute more to your child’s educational expenses (because you’ll receive less financial aid).

      If you plan to apply for financial aid, it’s a good idea to save non-retirement account money in your name rather than in your child’s name (as a custodial account). Colleges expect a greater percentage of money in your child’s name (20 percent) to be used for college costs than money in your name (5.6 percent). Remember, though, that from the standpoint of getting financial aid, you’re better off saving inside retirement accounts.

      However, if you’re affluent enough that you expect to pay for your cherub’s full educational costs without applying for financial aid, you can save a bit on taxes if you invest through custodial accounts. Parents control a custodial account until the child reaches either the age of 18 or 21, depending upon the state in which you reside. For tax year 2020, prior to your child’s reaching age 18, the first $2,200 of interest and dividend income generally isn’t taxed. Over the $2,200 threshold, unearned income is taxed at the relatively high rates that apply to trusts and estates:

       Up to $2,600 falls into the 10 percent bracket.

       Between $2,600 and $9,450 is in the 24 percent bracket.

       Between $9,450 and $12,950 is in the 35 percent bracket.

       Above $12,950 is in the 37 percent bracket.

      Upon reaching age 18 (or age 24 if your offspring are still full-time students),