S&P 500 · DCA since 2016
$500/month in S&P 500 since 2016
What a monthly $500 dollar-cost average into S&P 500 would be worth today if you'd started in January 2016 and never stopped. Real adjusted closes, T+1 execution, no transaction fees modeled.
If you invested $500/month in S&P 500 from 2016-01 to 2026-09...
$142,446
grown from $64,500 invested over 10.7 years. +$77,946 (+120.85%)
Growth over time
Dashed: cumulative invested · Solid: portfolio value
Investment schedule
- Per investment
- $500.00
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Window
- 2016-01-01 → 2026-09-28
- Duration
- 10.7 years
- Number of investments
- 129× $500.00 each
Results
- Total invested
- $64,500129 × $500.00
- Final value
- $142,446as of 2026-09-28
- Total return
- +$77,946+120.85%
- Annualized (IRR)
- 14.04%/yrcompounded over 10.7 years
What 2016 actually was: through Brexit and the election
Investors starting in 2016 bought through two events that pundits called catastrophic for markets: the Brexit vote and the US presidential election. The market shrugged both off within weeks. The lesson for DCA: macro headlines almost never matter on a 10-year horizon. Stick to the schedule.
For a S&P 500 DCA buyer who started January 2016 with $500 a month, the schedule pulled in 129 purchases through 2026-09-28. Total invested: $64,500. Final value: $142,446. That works out to an annualized return of 14.04% 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.