I opine that a primary benefit of AIM is behavioural training.
Most people when they go to the grocery store upon seeing a good 2 for 1 or low price offer will tend to buy/store more of that item, or if prices are high avoid buying that item that week - suspecting they'll be able to buy it later or elsewhere for less.
With stocks that commonly flips entirely around. Many will buy high, capitulate low. Greed and fear. The net consequence has been estimated to be around a 2%/year average cost of such behaviour, and being a average some obviously took a much bigger hit.
AIM better navigates such behaviour towards good behaviour, the opposite side.
If you were naturally at/near 100% all-in at the 2009 lows, having bought more stock during the declines, and profit took/sold some in later periods to uplift cash reserves again - then likely you don't need AIM (but could still run AIM as a confirmation measure). If you don't have a history of buying the dips, profit taking the highs, then likely you'll do better by looking over AIM's shoulder as it guides you. Eventually that guidance will become second nature and AIM will have done its job. But its guidance is addictive - it's comforting to have another providing confirmational encouragement, the 'yes you're doing the right thing' type fatherly figure.
If, as seems the case, there's a bunch of investors out there who are on average throwing 2%/year away, then providing liquidity to those investors (taking the opposite side) has the capacity to capture that throw-away.
Clive.
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
