S&P 500 Calculator: Total Return, Growth & Investment Simulator

It applies one fixed annual return, compounded monthly, to your starting amount and monthly contributions. The default is 10% a year, the S&P 500's long-run total return with dividends reinvested. Monthly compounding makes that about 10.5% effective a year. Dividends matter: since 1928 they supplied about 3.7 points of the 10.0% a year. A price chart leaves them out.

Results are nominal. The instant answer also shows the value in today's money, and the Nominal/Real switch turns the whole projection into after-inflation terms. Fees and taxes are included only if you enter them; the account-type selector handles the tax treatment of taxable, TFSA, RRSP, ISA and 401(k) accounts.

Since 1928 the S&P 500 has returned 10.0% a year with dividends reinvested, and 6.3% a year on price alone. That average hides big swings: the worst calendar year was 1931 at −43.8%, and the 2000s returned −1.0% a year in total. The table shows each period.

More detail, decade by decade and after inflation: S&P 500 historical returns.

Over the 30 years from 1996 to 2025, $10,000 in the S&P 500 with dividends reinvested grew to $187,103 (10.3% a year). Ten-year Treasury bonds returned 3.9% a year, gold 8.4% and cash 2.3%. The extra return from stocks came with deeper falls along the way.

Getting the stock result meant holding through the 2000–2002 crash (about −49% from peak to low), 2008 (−37% for the year) and the 2020 pandemic drop (−34% in five weeks) without selling.

At 10% a year compounded monthly (about 10.5% effective), $10,000 invested once becomes $27,070 after 10 years, $73,281 after 20 and $198,374 after 30. That assumes dividends are reinvested and ignores fees, taxes and inflation. The real index never delivered a steady 10%, so read these as illustrations. The table shows other amounts.

Assumes 10% a year (nominal), compounded monthly as in the calculator (about 10.5%effective a year), dividends reinvested, no further contributions, before fees, taxes and inflation. Use the calculator for your own numbers.

A low-cost index fund such as VOO (0.03% a year) gets you the index return. For the steps, read how to invest in the S&P 500. To compare S&P 500 index funds by fee use the comparison calculator, or try the VTI calculator for the whole US market.

At 10% a year compounded monthly (about 10.5% effective), $500 a month becomes $103,276 after 10 years, $382,848 after 20 and $1,139,663 after 30. Putting in $2,000 a month for 10 years reaches $413,104. Deposits go in at the start of each month, with no starting balance, before fees, taxes and inflation.

Assumes 10% a year (nominal), compounded monthly (about 10.5% effective a year), deposits at the start of each month, before fees, taxes and inflation. Add a starting balance in the calculator to combine both tables.

Investing $500 a month from age 25 to 65 puts in $240,000 and grows to about $3,188,390 at 10% a year compounded monthly. Starting at 35 instead gives about $1,139,663. The first ten years of deposits cost only $60,000 but make up about 64% of the 40-year total. Two more examples follow.

The projection assumes the average shows up every year and that you stay invested. Real plans fail for reasons the model leaves out: a bad run of returns early in retirement, selling in a crash and never coming back, tax rules that differ by country, and dividends that are not reinvested.

• Sequence of returns. A big fall in the first years of withdrawals can damage a retirement plan even if the long-run average later looks fine.
• Behavior. The worst results usually belong to people who sold in 2008 or 2020 and didn't come back. The calculator assumes you won't.
• Dividends. The default return assumes they are reinvested (see what a DRIP is). For a fund built around its payout, try the SCHD dividend calculator.
• Your tax situation. The account-type selector covers common cases but not every country's rules. Check with a tax advisor before acting.