<prompt> Human: I am ready to start an IRA account, it seems like ROTH is the way to go for my personal situation. I currently have 5500 available to maximize my contribution for 2017 but I am curious to see other peoples perspective if I should spread out the purchase over the next few months or just put the entire 5500 into it all at once. Essentially, would it make a noticeable difference?EDIT: Thank you to those who actually gave some constructive feedback. It seems this subreddit is quite hostile and intolerant towards the ignorant though. Wish it was a different way.Assistant: I recommend reading the links in the sidebar, because it has the answer to your question: Human: According to that information dollar cost averaging is not the financially optimal strategy done by a study from Vanguard. A study done by a company that benefits from getting as much of my money as fast as possible is.. sketchy at the very leastOther sites I have read that dollar cost averaging is financially optimal as you can purchase more shares for less sometimes and therefor your average cost is less. While in theory this sounds great, the cost could also go up and you get less shares for the same money.Thats why I came here because Im interested in real opinions from real people that will likely have more experience in the subject than me.  <response>: Put it in lump sum. Time in the market timing the market. 