Dollar-Cost Averaging Explained — Why Timing the Market Is a Losing Game
In March 2020, the stock market dropped 34% in about three weeks. I watched my portfolio shrink by thousands of dollars while the news screamed about economic collapse. Every instinct told me to sell everything and hide the cash under my mattress. I didn’t sell. But I also didn’t buy. I was too scared. I sat on the sidelines with $500 in my checking account that I’d planned to invest, waiting for the “right time” to get back in. I told myself I’d invest when things “settled down.” When the market “found a bottom.” When it felt safe again. ...