Any idea where I can find the total return for the S&P 500 since inception?

Question

The furthest back I can get is 1973. S&P 500's website only show up to 10 year data.

Answer 1

Yahoo goes back to January 1970:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=%5EGSPC&...

This graph goes back to 1960:

http://stockcharts.com/charts/historical...

This graph goes back to 1950 (but is smallish):

http://chart.finance.yahoo.com/c/my/_/_g...

And finally, this one *claims* it goes back to 1900 (but I think the S&P 500 dates from the 30s):

http://www.cxoadvisory.com/blog/external...

This page gives total returns:

http://allfinancialmatters.com/2007/06/1...

Answer 2

the S&P 500 is only an index of 500 stocks - the "return" is only a rough average if you happened to invest in ALL 500 stocks at the same time