Why Buy the Dip with Index Funds for Those Scared of Direct Stock Trading

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I recklessly placed small amounts of money on GInvest. What I didn't notice (at first) was that the Unit Investment Trust Fund (UITF) offerings also have index funds and feeder funds. Feeder funds are in a collective investment scheme (CIS) abroad with companies such as Samsung and Apple. Currently, I'm into the ATRAM Global Consumer Trends Feeder Fund via GInvest (and I sold the other feeder fund where I only invested PHP 1,000.00 to test my skill). It turns out that the best strategy for index funds or feeder funds is to buy and hold for as long as possible. Seeing the stock market in red made me want to open a direct stock trading account. However, knowing my attention deficit disorder (ADD)--the second-best choice might be to invest in UITFs. The recent dips in the UITF may be that big chance to buy more units than usual. That's what I slowly did--buying UITFs at a dip. That's why I tend to check on my investments nearly daily--I want to buy the dip as much as possible!

From Bankrate, I think this would serve as good advice about buying during a dip:

3 investing strategies to consider if you want to buy the dip

If you’re thinking about buying the dip for the long term, you have a number of strategies that you could use to find attractive returns. Here are three of the most popular:

  • Buy the best stocks in a beaten-down sector. If a whole sector has fallen because investors have turned sour on it, you may have an opportunity to buy the best one or two stocks in the sector. You’ll be able to find the most competitively advantaged players and then buy them before the sector returns to investors’ favor in a couple years.
  • Buy a sector ETF. If you don’t want to do the legwork of investing in individual stocks, then you may be able to turn to a sector ETF and just buy a stake in all the companies in the sector. You’ll want to be careful that you’re actually buying the companies you intend, because some ETFs can be misnamed and hold many stocks you don’t want.
  • Buy the market with an index fund. If you don’t want to do the work to invest in individual stocks or specific sectors, you still have the option to invest in the market with an index fund. A fund based on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index can give you a stake in hundreds of America’s best stocks, and you can buy while it’s out of favor. It’s a great pick for investors who don’t have the time or energy required for more intense investing, and it’s also Warren Buffett’s recommendation for most investors.

Buying while the market is falling is difficult for many investors, however, because it hurts to lose money and the negative sentiment may be worrying, at least in the short term. That’s why Buffett has said, “The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect. You need a temperament that neither derives great pleasure from being with the crowd or against the crowd.”

If you’re buying the dip for the long term, you’ll need to have the fortitude to stick with your investments while they fall and hold them through the eventual upturn (hopefully).

Some people have the time and expertise to stand out in stock trading. However, with so little money, it might be best not to directly get into stocks. That's why I wrote that rushing into the stock market hoping to make easy money is suicide. The stock market isn't something that you invest in and you get rich overnight. Any investment that gives you fast returns will soon drain you of your re-investments. Some people may reinvest their "earnings" from a Ponzi scheme into the same scheme to lose it eventually. 

I think two of GInvest's current offerings (via ATRAM) would be the Philippine Stock Index Fund (which I'm now trying to buy more units due to the dip) and the Philippine Equity Smart Index Fund. In the case of the Philippine Equity Smart Index Fund--it sells at a lower NAVPU which means my PHP 1,000.00 will buy more units. The Philippine Stock Index Fund has a higher NAVPU. That means my PHP 1,000 will buy lesser units which I only have around 2.XXXXX units right now. I wonder how Philippine Stock Index Fund intends to allocate smaller units. Meanwhile, the Philippine Equity Smart Index Fund has fund picks for the moments--making me know which allows me to indirectly buy stocks from the selected businesses. I'll be having minor stocks allocated with SM, Ayala, Globe, and JG Holdings based on the current fund picks.

Here are a few things NerdWallet shares about what to know about index funds to say why it's best to use index funds while one may be studying how to directly trade in stocks:

They're an indirect way to buy the whole market. An index fund buys the securities that make up an entire index. For example, if the index tracks the Standard & Poor's 500 — an index of 500 of the largest companies in the United States — the fund buys shares from every company listed on the index (or a representative sample of stocks). An investor, in turn, buys shares from the fund, whose value will mirror the gains and losses of the index being tracked.

By accepting defeat, you actually win. Picking individual stocks, you're probably not going to outperform the market. Not even the pros do: Research shows that from 2001 to 2016, more than 90% of active fund managers underperformed their benchmark index. So, meeting market gains is a surer bet than beating the market, and that's just what index funds are designed to do.

Index funds are increasingly popular with investors. According to Morningstar, actively managed mutual funds and exchange-traded funds in the U.S. saw outflows of nearly $514 billion, while passively managed funds saw nearly $1.6 trillion in new money from April 2014 to April 2017. The rise of robo-advisors and passive investing in general have helped fuel interest. See a deeper comparison of index funds and mutual funds here.

Index funds are available across a variety of asset classes. Investors can buy funds that focus on companies with small, medium or large capital values, or focus on a sector like technology or energy. These indexes are perhaps less diversified than the broadest market index, but still more so than if you were to buy stock in a handful of companies within a sector.

References

"Buying the dip: Is this a good strategy when markets are falling?" by James Royal (May 26, 2022)

"What Is an Index Fund? An Easy Way to Enter the Stock Market" by Kevin Voigt (March 20, 2021)

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