<prompt> Human: I understand the premise: eliminate emotion and avoid market timing by investing idle cash periodically. But since the market trends upward and therefore is slightly more likely to go up than down in a given monthquarteryear, what is there to be gained from dollar cost averaging as opposed to investing a lump sum? What method do you employ in your portfolio?  <response>: Dollar cost averaging usually performs worse than lump sum investing over the long haul. If you have the money, invest it. 