Cost of waiting
What if you waited 7 years to start $1000/month?
Same S&P 500 monthly habit — start in 2015 vs start in 2022. Historical paths to the same end date.
Quick answer
Starting in 2015 ended near $271,300 vs starting in 2022 near $88,268. The gap is about $183,032 in favor of starting earlier.
| Start | Contributed | Ending value |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | $140,770 | $271,300 |
| 2022 | $56,308 | $88,268 |
How much would this DCA have been worth?
If you invested $1000/month on a monthly budget (simulated as a weekly-equivalent cash rate) into S&P 500 from 2015-01-02 through 2026-09-04, your total contributions would have been about $140,770 and a dollar-cost averaging portfolio would be worth about $271,300 (+92.7%) on this historical path — before fees, taxes, or changing the habit mid-stream.
2015-01-02 → 2026-09-04
$1000/month · Monthly DCA · S&P 500
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What does the chart show?
The chart marks portfolio value over time for fixed-amount DCA and (when shown) a same-capital lump sum. Contributed cash rises in steps; ending value is mark-to-market on the last date (2026-09-04).
How did we calculate this?
- Window: real market history from our published backtest bundle, typically from 2015 through the latest Friday in the series — we do not invent older decades.
- Contribution calendar: the engine runs on a weekly Friday grid. A “monthly” habit is converted to an equivalent weekly cash rate ((amount × 12) / 52) so the same engine can compare habits.
- Purchase timing: each period’s contribution is applied on that week’s bar in the series (close-based weekly path), not an intraday open fill.
- Assets: S&P 500, Bitcoin, and other series we publish — USD only. No FX conversion.
- Shares: fractional units are assumed. No brokerage commissions, bid–ask, or slippage are modeled.
- Dividends / income: returns follow the wealth path in the backtest bundle for that asset (not a fixed 7–10% toy rate).
- Lump sum (when shown): the same total cash as the DCA habit, invested on day one of the window, then marked to the same path.
Frequently asked questions
- How much would $1000/month DCA into S&P 500 have been worth?
- On this page’s window (2015-01-02 → 2026-09-04), blind DCA contributed about $140,770 and ended near $271,300. Change the calculator or a related what-if story for other amounts and start years.
- Is this a forecast or a historical backtest?
- Historical only. We replay published prices from 2015 onward. Past paths do not predict future returns.
- Do you include dividends, fees, and taxes?
- We use the asset’s backtest wealth path (USD) and assume fractional shares with no brokerage fees. Taxes and account wrappers are not modeled — treat the result as a pre-tax illustration.
- How do monthly contributions work in a weekly engine?
- A monthly dollar amount is converted to a weekly-equivalent cash rate so it can run on the same Friday grid as our other calculators. It is not twelve identical calendar-month fills.
- Can I compare DCA to investing everything at once?
- Yes — open the DCA vs lump sum calculator. It uses the same total cash: one lump on day one versus spreading buys across the window.
- Where can I learn the basics before I run a calculator?
- Start with our DCA guides — what DCA is, vs lump sum, weekly vs monthly, and crash behavior — then jump back into a historical calculator.
Try another habit or asset
Change the amount, start year, or asset — or compare the same cash schedule across gold, Bitcoin, and the S&P 500.