1. Some investors, out of fear or in order to act smart, discontinue their SIPs in a bear phase.
2. Why lose your money? They say.
3. When markets jump, they start investing again.
4. Timing your SIPs, i.e., starting or stopping them as per the market phase looks intuitive, yet it's counterproductive.
5. First, when you stop your SIPs during a bear phase, you lose the opportunity to average out your buying price lower.
6. Second, when you try to time the market, you are often left out and thus incur an opportunity cost if the market suddenly starts racing.
7. By their very design, SIPs are meant to discourage this investor behaviour.
8. By making you invest through all market phases, SIPs keep both fear and greed in check.
9. If you are investing through SIPs, what matters most is discipline, not timing.