Try your own numbers
it would be worth today
$2,905
+$1,905 profit2.91x10.4% a year
The same $1,000 in an S&P 500 index fund: $4,503
Its shares paid about $28.43 in dividends over the last 12 months.
Includes the fund’s 0.19% yearly fee, roughly $37.02 over this time.
Aftertax on the gain, you’d keep$2,619
US federal long-term rates: 15% for most people, 0% on lower incomes, 20% + 3.8% on high incomes. No state tax included; none inside a Roth IRA.
Growth Over Time
Performance Metrics
Total Invested
$1,000.00
Current Value
$2,905.08
Total Profit
$1,905.08
Multiplier
2.91x
CAGR
10.4%
Max Drawdown
-32.3%
Inflation-Adjusted
$2,138.71
Benchmark Comparison
How does $1,000.00 invested in 2016 compare across different asset classes?
| Asset | Value Today | Return |
|---|---|---|
| Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) | $2,905.08 | 2.91x |
| S&P 500 | $4,503.50 | 4.50x |
| Gold | $3,955.93 | 3.96x |
| Savings (2% APY) | $1,237.13 | 1.24x |
Dividends
Over the last 12 months, the 10.42 shares you'd own now paid about $28.43 in dividends (about $2.37 a month). That's 2.8% of the $1,000 put in.
Price growth alone turned $1,000 into $2,535; reinvested dividends added the other $370.40, 19% of the gain.
Dividends from Yahoo Finance. Shares today assume every dividend was reinvested.
Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) charges a yearly fee of 0.19%. It’s already taken out of the fund’s price, so the results above include it; at today’s rate it came to roughly $37.02 on this investment. Source
Back in 2016
- In 2016, a gallon of gas averaged $2.14, a movie ticket averaged $8.65 and the new iPhone 7 started at $649. eia.govapple.comdeadline.com
- During 2016 itself, Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) rose 25%, #23 of the 85 investments we track. The best was Ethereum (+778%); the worst was Palo Alto Networks (−26%). Full 2016 results →
$1,000 in Russell 2000 ETF (IWM), year by year
Of the 85 investments we track that were available at the start of 2016, Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) ranks #65 by growth to today, in the bottom quarter — just behind Target and ahead of Coca-Cola. See the full 2016 ranking →
Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) started 2016 6.2% below its start-of-2015 high, after falling 6.2% in 2015. It has been worth more than the $1,000 put in at every January since, and still is today. Today's $2,905 is more than it was worth at any January since. It rose in 8 of the 10 full years since. It fell behind the same $1,000 in the S&P 500 at the start of 2019 and hasn't caught up. Month by month, the deepest fall ran from Aug 2018 ($1,628) to Mar 2020 ($1,102), a drop of 32%. At its lowest month-end, in Feb 2016, it was worth $933.77.
| When | Worth | Change | S&P 500 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start of 2016 | $1,000 | — | $1,000 |
| Start of 2017 | $1,251 | +25% | $1,120 |
| Start of 2018 | $1,440 | +15% | $1,364 |
| Start of 2019 | $1,275 | −11% | $1,304 |
| Start of 2020 | $1,591 | +25% | $1,715 |
| Start of 2021 | $1,883 | +18% | $2,030 |
| Start of 2022 | $2,214 | +18% | $2,613 |
| Start of 2023 | $1,728 | −22% | $2,140 |
| Start of 2024 | $2,018 | +17% | $2,702 |
| Start of 2025 | $2,263 | +12% | $3,379 |
| Start of 2026 | $2,574 | +14% | $3,983 |
| Today | $2,905 | +13% | $4,503 |
Values at the start of each year (first trading day for stocks). The S&P 500 column includes reinvested dividends, like the stock values.
Historical Context
At the start of 2016, Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) was priced at $95.98 (adjusted for later splits and dividends). $1,000 would have bought about 10.42 shares. IWM tracks the Russell 2000 index of small US companies.
Measured from one January to the next, Russell 2000 ETF (IWM)'s best year since then was 2016 (+25%) and its worst was 2022 (−22%). Holding on wasn't easy: between the start of 2022 and the start of 2023, the position fell 22% from its high.
Frequently Asked Questions
A $1,000 investment in Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) at the start of 2016 would be worth approximately $2,905.08 today — a 2.91x return ($1,905.08 profit) over 10.7 years.
Methodology & Sources
Price data: Historical prices are the closing price on the first trading day of each year, adjusted for splits and dividends (so returns assume dividends were reinvested), from Yahoo Finance and MacroTrends. Current prices come from Yahoo Finance and refresh hourly; if that source is unavailable, the last saved price is used.
Calculation: Assumes a single purchase at the start of 2016 (or the first trading day, for companies that listed that year), held until today. No transaction fees, taxes, or slippage are included.
Benchmarks: The S&P 500 comparison uses the S&P 500 Total Return index (dividends reinvested, like an index fund) at the start of2016 and today. Gold uses the price per troy ounce. Savings account assumes a 2% APY compounded annually.
Inflation adjustment: Uses U.S. CPI-U annual averages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The 2026 CPI value is estimated.
Educational purposes only. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Not financial advice.
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$1,000 in Russell 2000 ETF (IWM), by year
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