Dollar-Cost Averaging Calculator

Dollar-cost averaging means investing a fixed amount on a regular schedule instead of all at once. Because a fixed dollar amount buys more shares when prices are low and fewer when they're high, your average cost per share lands below the market's average price — automatically, with no forecasting. This lesson races dollar-cost averaging against a lump-sum investment over the same volatile market. The simulator builds a reproducible price path you can shape with trend and volatility sliders, then plots both portfolios' value side by side. The durable lessons: in a market that mostly rises, getting in early (lump sum) usually wins, because time in the market beats timing it; in a choppy or falling market, averaging in softens the blow of a badly-timed start; and either way, the discipline of investing on a schedule beats waiting for a perfect moment that never announces itself.

Free and interactive — no sign-up, nothing to install. Read the full lesson for the plain-language explanation.