Nibble at These Core Index Bargains

THE KIPLINGER ETF 20 UPDATE

- NELLIE S. HUANG

WHEN THE STOCK MARKET GETS wobbly, we suggest making a shopping list of stocks you can pick up at lower prices. But it’s hard to pull the trigger on shares in a single company if you think prices will fall further.

Here’s another idea: Invest some money every few weeks in a diversified stock exchange-traded fund. “It is nearly impossible to predict a market bottom,” says Danielle Miura, a certified financial planner in Ripon, Calif. By investing a little bit of money in an index fund every month, you take on lower risk than you would by buying shares in one stock, and you put your money to work at the same time.