DCA calculator: invest monthly in your own portfolio
Build a mix of up to 10 ETFs or lazy portfolios, choose how much to invest each month and see what it would have become, on real monthly total returns with dividends reinvested, against the same plan in a benchmark of your choice.
1 · Your portfolio
- VT Vanguard Total World Stock ETF · USD%since 2020
● Total 100% · up to 10 holdings · rebalanced yearly
2 · Your plan
These funds have less than a year of history in common: try others.
Returns with dividends reinvested, each fund in its trading currency; the funds’ own costs are already included. Taxes and trading costs are not. The part beyond the real history is an average, not a forecast. Not investment advice.
How to read the DCA calculator
Total invested is the initial amount plus every monthly contribution. Final value is what the plan would have been worth at the end of the period, before taxes.
The blue line is your portfolio, rebalanced to its target weights every January. The dashed orange line runs the same plan, with the same amounts on the same dates, in the fund or portfolio you chose to compare with. The grey line is the money you put in: the gap above it is the gain.
When the years you ask for go beyond the history the funds share, the real months come first and the rest continues at the portfolio’s own historical average return, marked by a vertical line in the chart. That part is an average, not a forecast.
Within the real history, two boxes compare the monthly plan with investing the same total at the start, and repeat the plan from every other start month: the most honest way to see how much timing matters.
Dollar-cost averaging: questions
What is dollar-cost averaging (DCA)?
Dollar-cost averaging means investing a fixed amount at regular intervals, usually every month, instead of investing a sum all at once. You buy more shares when prices are low and fewer when they are high, and the position builds up from savings over time.
Is DCA better than investing a lump sum?
In markets that rose over the long run, investing a sum you already have all at once ended higher in most historical periods, because the money spent more time invested. DCA reduces the risk of putting everything in just before a fall, and for most people investing part of their salary each month it is simply how investing happens. The calculator shows both for the fund and dates you choose.
What is the "annual return of the plan"?
It is the money-weighted return (internal rate of return) of your contributions: each monthly amount is counted for the time it was actually invested. It differs from the fund’s own annual return, which assumes all the money was invested on the first day.
Which returns does the calculator use?
Real monthly total returns of each ETF with dividends reinvested, computed from end-of-day prices, or of each lazy portfolio, over the months all the chosen funds have in common; your portfolio is rebalanced to its weights every January. Beyond that history the plan continues at the portfolio’s historical average. The funds’ own ongoing charges are already in their returns; you can add an extra yearly fee for an advisor or platform. Taxes and trading costs are not included.
Does past performance tell me what DCA will return in future?
No. The historical results show how wide the range of outcomes was depending on when you started, which is useful for setting expectations, but they are not a forecast.
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Source: MarketStack end-of-day prices, total return with dividends reinvested. Figures are historical and descriptive; they are not forecasts and not investment advice. MEDGE Capital does not recommend buying or selling any instrument. Risk disclaimer.