S&P 500 · DCA since 2005
$500/month in S&P 500 since 2005
What a monthly $500 dollar-cost average into S&P 500 would be worth today if you'd started in January 2005 and never stopped. Real adjusted closes, T+1 execution, no transaction fees modeled.
If you invested $500/month in S&P 500 from 2005-01 to 2026-06...
$496,953
grown from $129,000 invested over 21.5 years. +$367,953 (+285.23%)
Growth over time
Dashed: cumulative invested · Solid: portfolio value
Investment schedule
- Per investment
- $500.00
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Window
- 2005-01-01 → 2026-06-26
- Duration
- 21.5 years
- Number of investments
- 258× $500.00 each
Results
- Total invested
- $129,000258 × $500.00
- Final value
- $496,953as of 2026-06-26
- Total return
- +$367,953+285.23%
- Annualized (IRR)
- 11.17%/yrcompounded over 21.5 years
What 2005 actually was: the calm before the storm
Starting a DCA in 2005 put you mid-cycle in a long bull run. Markets felt steady, housing was booming, and nothing about the next three years was obvious from where you stood. Then 2008 hit. The lesson of this start date is what happens when a DCA strategy meets a generational crash within a few years of opening the account, and then keeps going.
For a S&P 500 DCA buyer who started January 2005 with $500 a month, the schedule pulled in 258 purchases through 2026-06-26. Total invested: $129,000. Final value: $496,953. That works out to an annualized return of 11.17% per year on the irregular cashflow series.
The numbers above use adjusted closing prices (dividends reinvested, splits applied) and apply a T+1 policy: when the 1st of the month landed on a weekend or holiday, the trade executed at the next trading day's close. Bitcoin pages execute on the exact scheduled date because crypto trades 24/7.
Change the numbers
Want to test a different amount, frequency, or end date? The full calculator has the same S&P 500 dataset behind it.