Model your journey from wealth accumulation to tax-efficient harvesting
Run long-term simulations to see how consistent investing and market cycles impact your future financial freedom.
Standard calculators assume a smooth 7% path. Reality is a jagged journey of noise, opportunity, and risk. Our daily simulator models the interplay between your specific deployment strategy, randomized market volatility, and long-term inflation.
There is a specific market cycle where DCA is mathematically the worst possible choice: The "Rise-Fall" Mountain.
If the market rises sharply during your deployment phase and then falls back to its starting point, you will have bought the peak. Because your average purchase price (cost basis) is now higher than the current market price, you will show a capital loss—even if a Lump Sum investor or someone holding Cash would be at a break-even 0%.
Mathematically, if the market has a positive expected return, a Lump Sum investment (the green dashed benchmark) will outperform Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) roughly 75% of the time. Why? Because every day your capital stays as "Cash on Sidelines" (the red area), it fails to capture the market's upward drift.
However, DCA isn't about maximizing returns; it's a hedging strategy. It protects you against the "Day 1 Crash" by spreading your risk across different entry points, effectively trading a portion of your expected gain for a massive reduction in psychological panic.
Sequence risk is the danger that the timing of market fluctuations will have a negative impact on your total wealth. In our simulator, if the market crashes while you are in your "Deploying" phase, you actually win. By buying the dip with your remaining capital, you lower your cost basis, often resulting in a final portfolio that exceeds even the Lump Sum benchmark.
Most investors buy more when they feel "confident" (prices are high) and stop buying when they feel "fearful" (prices are low). Smart DCA (also known as Value Averaging) flips this psychology on its head.
By automatically scaling your purchase size inversely to your portfolio's return—and allowing you to amplify this effect with an Aggression Factor—you mathematically force yourself to "Buy the Dip" with higher conviction. If you set the Aggression to 2.0x, a 10% drop results in a 20% larger buy, lowering your average cost-basis much more effectively than a standard fixed-amount DCA.
Investing is only half the battle; knowing when to sell is what builds real wealth. Our simulator allows you to integrate Profit Taking directly into your strategy.
By setting systematic Profit Taking, you can harvest gains and return capital to your cash sidelines to be redeployed when the next opportunity arises, effectively turning a static investment into a dynamic cycle.
With the Australian government's 2026-27 CGT reforms reducing the 50% discount for higher-value property holdings, many investors are re-evaluating their asset mix.
Unlike property, which is bulky and illiquid, a stock portfolio allows for fractional harvesting. You can sell small portions to stay under tax thresholds, whereas property requires selling the whole asset and triggering a massive tax event in a single year.
As interest rates remain volatile, the ability to deploy capital using the % Remaining (Tapered) strategy allows stock investors to keep dry powder ready for market opportunities—a feat nearly impossible for highly leveraged property investors.
Markets don't move month-to-month; they fluctuate day-by-day. Our engine uses a 365-day model with randomized daily returns to show you the "jitter" that actually happens in a real portfolio journey.
Using Brownian Bridge correction, we ensure that no matter how wild the journey is, your market index lands precisely on your target. This allows you to stress-test volatility while keeping your long-term goal constant.
Compare "Fixed" amounts against "% of Total" or the sophisticated "% of Remaining" (tapered) deployment. See exactly how "Cash on Sidelines" impacts your overall yield vs. a Lump Sum.
A million dollars in 25 years isn't a million dollars today. Toggle the CPI Adjustment to see your wealth curve discounted back to "Today's Dollars," giving you a realistic view of your future purchasing power.
The "Market Benchmark" shows you the opportunity cost of holding cash. While Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) reduces the risk of a market crash early in your journey, it often results in lower total returns in a trending bull market.
This is a tapered deployment strategy. By investing a percentage of your current cash balance (e.g., 5% every 20 days), you deploy more capital when your cash pile is large and gradually smaller amounts as you reach full investment.
Sequence of Returns Risk. If the market crashes exactly when you are deploying your largest trenches, your cost-basis will be significantly lower, leading to better long-term outcomes than a smooth path.