Should You Invest a Lump Sum or Dollar-Cost Average Into ETFs?

For long-term investors, investing a lump sum as soon as possible is preferable to dollar-cost averaging. Research shows that missing just the market's 10 biggest daily gains since 1996 would reduce a $10,000 S&P 500 investment from $192,000 to $85,000. The biggest risk investors face is not being in the market at the wrong time, but missing out on the right time, particularly since over 40% of the S&P 500's best days have occurred during bear markets.