Try your own numbers
it would be worth today
$4,516
+$3,516 profit4.52x13.7% a year
The same $1,000 in an S&P 500 index fund: $4,566
Its shares paid about $44.80 in dividends over the last 12 months.
Includes the fund’s 0.0945% yearly fee, roughly $23.78 over this time.
Aftertax on the gain, you’d keep$3,989
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
$4,516.45
Total Profit
$3,516.45
Multiplier
4.52x
CAGR
13.7%
Max Drawdown
-23.9%
Inflation-Adjusted
$3,283.43
Benchmark Comparison
How does $1,000.00 invested in 2015 compare across different asset classes?
| Asset | Value Today | Return |
|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 ETF (SPY) | $4,516.45 | 4.52x |
| S&P 500 | $4,565.82 | 4.57x |
| Gold | $3,548.31 | 3.55x |
| Savings (2% APY) | $1,261.85 | 1.26x |
Dividends
Over the last 12 months, the 5.91 shares you'd own now paid about $44.80 in dividends (about $3.73 a month). That's 4.5% of the $1,000 put in.
Price growth alone turned $1,000 into $3,722; reinvested dividends added the other $794.90, 23% of the gain.
Dividends from Yahoo Finance. Shares today assume every dividend was reinvested.
S&P 500 ETF (SPY) charges a yearly fee of 0.0945%. It’s already taken out of the fund’s price, so the results above include it; at today’s rate it came to roughly $23.78 on this investment. Source
Back in 2015
- In 2015, a gallon of gas averaged $2.43, a movie ticket averaged $8.43 and the new iPhone 6s started at $649 without a contract. eia.govfonearena.comthewrap.com
- During 2015 itself, S&P 500 ETF (SPY) fell 0.1%, #46 of the 82 investments we track. The best was Netflix (+121%); the worst was Chipotle (−34%). Full 2015 results →
$1,000 in S&P 500 ETF (SPY), year by year
Of the 82 investments we track that were available at the start of 2015, S&P 500 ETF (SPY) ranks #38 by growth to today — just behind Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) and ahead of UnitedHealth. See the full 2015 ranking →
S&P 500 ETF (SPY) started 2015 at its highest start-of-year price up to then, after rising 15% in 2014. It was worth less than the $1,000 put in at the start of 2016, and has been above it since the start of 2017. Today's $4,516 is more than it was worth at any January since. It rose in 8 of the 11 full years since. It fell behind the same $1,000 in the S&P 500 at the start of 2021 and hasn't caught up. Month by month, the deepest fall ran from Dec 2021 ($2,634) to Sep 2022 ($2,003), a drop of 24%. At its lowest month-end, in Sep 2015, it was worth $946.43.
| When | Worth | Change | S&P 500 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start of 2015 | $1,000 | — | $1,000 |
| Start of 2016 | $999 | −0.1% | $1,014 |
| Start of 2017 | $1,143 | +14% | $1,135 |
| Start of 2018 | $1,391 | +22% | $1,383 |
| Start of 2019 | $1,319 | −5.1% | $1,322 |
| Start of 2020 | $1,745 | +32% | $1,739 |
| Start of 2021 | $2,018 | +16% | $2,058 |
| Start of 2022 | $2,649 | +31% | $2,649 |
| Start of 2023 | $2,146 | −19% | $2,170 |
| Start of 2024 | $2,704 | +26% | $2,740 |
| Start of 2025 | $3,387 | +25% | $3,425 |
| Start of 2026 | $4,005 | +18% | $4,038 |
| Today | $4,516 | +13% | $4,566 |
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 2015, S&P 500 ETF (SPY) was priced at $169.27 (adjusted for later splits and dividends). $1,000 would have bought about 5.91 shares. SPY is the oldest and most traded S&P 500 index fund. Its history here includes reinvested dividends, unlike the plain S&P 500 index line.
Measured from one January to the next, S&P 500 ETF (SPY)'s best year since then was 2019 (+32%) and its worst was 2022 (−19%).
Frequently Asked Questions
A $1,000 investment in S&P 500 ETF (SPY) at the start of 2015 would be worth approximately $4,516.45 today — a 4.52x return ($3,516.45 profit) over 11.7 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 2015 (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 of2015 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 S&P 500 ETF (SPY), by year
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