If I had invested $25k in the S&P 500 in 1985 and left it alone, what would it be worth now?

Question

Is there an online calculator to figure this out? Another question: if I had added $1000 every year to the original $25k in the S&P 500, what would it be now? Thanks.

Answer 1

I just went the simple route: the current S&P of 1360 is 7.57 times the 1985 figure of 179.63...so it stands to reason that your $ 25,000. would be worth $ 189,250.  ( 7.57 times what it was )... the other problem of adding another $ 1000. per year is just too complex for a nice day like today...

Good luck.

Answer 2

I tried, and the best I could come up with was this site, which calculates return adjusted for inflation and not.

http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.co...

I couldn't find anything that calculates dollar amounts.  Since 1-1-1985, the S & P 500 index has risen roughly 750%, from 171 to 1360.  

The actual dollar amount you would have assuming reinvestment of all dividends will be substantially higher than the estimate you will get when adjusting for inflation..  However, its buying power will be truly reflected.

According to the calculator, the unadjusted annual rate of return since 1-1-1985 is 11.95%.  Rounding off and using the Rule of 72, which says that by dividing 72 by the interest rate gives you the number of years it takes for your money to double:  Your money would have about doubled every six years. At the end of this year, you would have close to $400K.

Adjusted for inflation, the rate is 8.85%.  At that rate, your money will double every eight years, two months.  A year from now, after 24 years 6 Months, your money would have double three times, to $200K worth of buying power.  You'd still have over $400K in today's dollars.  Just to show you the damaging effects of inflation.

Computing the effects of adding $1000 every year can be done, but it will be time consuming.

Answer 3

google it