If you had invested about $74 every month in the S&P 500 for 20 years
This estimates the result of steadily investing about $74 every month in an S&P 500 ETF for 20 years, from 2006 to 2026 — living through both the financial crisis and the COVID crash.
Resumen de las condiciones de inversión
Jan 2006 – Jan 2026 (20 years)
about $74 / month
S&P 500 index ETF (USD basis)
Recurring investment at each month-end
⚠️ Todos los resultados de abajo son estimaciones basadas en datos pasados y se muestran antes de impuestos. Reflejar comisiones, tipos de cambio e impuestos puede hacer que los resultados reales difieran.
Total principal invested
about $18k
20 years × 12 months × ~$74
Ending value (estimate, pre-tax)
about $95k
FX effect not reflected, pre-tax, fees not reflected (estimate)
Cumulative return (estimate, pre-tax)
+433%
Annualized return XIRR (estimate, pre-tax)
about 8.6%
XIRR on a recurring-investment basis
Periodo de máxima caída: Oct 2007 – Mar 2009
-56.8%
Unos 52 meses para recuperarse
If you had kept investing about $74 every month during this period, you would have bought the most shares at the low. Those who endured the crash reaped the fruits of the subsequent recovery.
A 20-year journey: from the financial crisis to COVID
This hypothetical investment journey, starting in January 2006, was not smooth. Less than two years in, the global financial crisis arrived.
Along with the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in September 2008, the S&P 500 was already falling, and it recorded -56.8% down to its low in March 2009. The account of someone investing about $74 every month once fell below half of the invested principal.
But what if you had kept investing even through this crash? The shares bought cheaply in 2008–2009 became the springboard for the big bull market of the 2010s. After recovering the principal in 2013, the S&P 500 entered a historic upswing.
You also lived through the March 2020 COVID crash (-33.9%), but this time it recovered in just 5 months. By the end of 2021, it was setting new highs one after another.
An investment started 20 years ago has an estimated value of about $95k (pre-tax) as of 2026 — 5.3 times the roughly $18k invested in total.
The power of consistency: why recurring investing worked
The key to this result is "consistency." Everyone knows it is good to buy stocks at a financial-crisis low (March 2009). But continuing to invest at that moment is psychologically extremely hard.
The advantage of recurring monthly investing is that you do not have to agonize over the timing. It automatically buys more shares when prices are low and fewer when they are high. This "dollar cost averaging" worked effectively over the long run.
However, this result is an estimate. Reflecting FX movements, fees, and taxes changes the actual amount received. In particular, accounting for the overseas-ETF capital-gains tax (22% after a deduction) makes the after-tax amount lower than this.
Calcúlalo tú mismo
Los resultados de arriba son estimaciones. Calcúlalos tú mismo con tus propias condiciones (importe, periodo, activo).
Calculate it yourself in the recurring-investment simulator📋 Los resultados se basan en datos históricos; las rentabilidades pasadas no garantizan rentabilidades futuras.
📋 Este servicio se ofrece con fines educativos para ayudarte a entender la inversión, no como asesoramiento de inversión.