Historical Best Day of Month to Dollar Cost Average or Invest: UPDATED: 1950 to 2014

Historical Best Day of Month to Dollar Cost Average or Invest: Updated: 1950 to 2014

This article updates the previous "Best Day of Month to Dollar Cost Average".



1. This article now covers February 14, 1950 up to July 8, 2014.



2. The previous article used the Average S&P 500 methodology, which over weighed the S&P 500 when it is large (over 1500), and under weighed the S&P 500 when it was small (around 20 on the S&P 500 in 1950).



3. This article uses the "Percent Above 30 Trading Day Moving Average" methodology.   This way, whether the S&P 500 had a low value or high value, the results have equal weight.



4. To determine the best day of month to dollar cost average, choose the lowest "percent above 30 trading day moving average" value.



Chart:

The Results:

The best two days of the month to dollar cost average are on the 26th (#1) and 25th (#2) with the lowest value of percent above 30 trading day moving average.

#3a: 19th    (0.20%)
#3b: 27th    (0.20%)
#4a: 10th    (0.22%)
#4b: 24th    (0.22%)

The rest of the values can be seen in the chart above.

Beginning of the Month Boost:

At the beginning of the month, the percent above 30 trading day moving average seems to be at its highest values.

One possible reason why is because of investment in 401k and retirement funds close to the beginning of the month, which pushes the S&P 500 up during this time.

Does Taxing the Rich Help Increase U.S. Revenue as a Percent of GDP? (Historic Range: 1934 to 2011)

Does increasing the top marginal tax rate on the rich help the U.S. Revenue Problem?

In the chart above, the lower green line is the U.S. Revenue as a Percentage of GDP from 1934 to 2011.  From 1944 to 2011, the Average U.S. Federal Revenue as a Percentage of GDP was a steady 17.8% with the highest being 20.9% of GDP in 1944, during World War 2.  From 1944 to 2011, the U.S. Revenue as a Percentage of GDP remained in a relatively constant narrow band, despite the large range of tax rates during this time.  (Different Tax Rate Graph from VisualizingEconomics.com and PolicyGrinder.com)

The upper red line is the top marginal tax rate.  Despite the large changes in the top marginal tax rate (from 92% in the 1950s to 28% in the 1980s), the U.S. Revenue as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Product remained relatively constant.

From 1950 to 1963, the Top Marginal Tax Rate averaged between 91 and 92%.  The U.S. Revenue as a Percentage of Revenue during this time was 17.4%. 

From 1988 to 1989, the Top Marginal Tax Rate was 28%.  The Revenue as a Percentage of Revenue during this time was 18.3% (even higher than the 1950 to 1963 time period).

This observation of a steady U.S. Revenue as a Percentage of GDP is often called Hauser's Law.

Chart created by this techfarm.blogspot.com site, and data from the Tax Policy Center.