Lift Off / Calculators
DCA vs Lump Sum
You have a lump of money ready to invest. Should you put it all in at once, or spread it out over time? This calculator runs 500 different market scenarios to show you the real trade-off.
Higher returns come with higher volatility — the shaded band on the chart shows that uncertainty.
NZ options — Simplicity Growth (~7%), Kernel NZ 20 (~10%), or global index equivalents.
12 contributions of $4,167 each, over 12 months
Median Portfolio Value · 500 Scenarios
Shaded bands show the range where half of all scenarios landed
$92,448
Median Lump Sum
after 10 years
$87,180
Median DCA
after 10 years
$5,268
Lump Sum Advantage
median difference
40 out of 100
DCA Won In
scenarios
Verdict
It's close — Lump Sum won 60% of the time, a small edge but not decisive. Your choice may come down to peace of mind: if a sudden 30% drop right after investing would cause you to sell, DCA's gradual approach can help you stay the course.
Ready to start investing — whichever method you choose?
We help you build the right strategy, not just pick a method.
Each scenario uses a randomly generated market path based on the return and volatility of your selected asset class. Results vary with each re-run. Past returns are not a reliable guide to future performance. This is illustrative only and does not constitute financial advice.