What if?

  1. The question

    What if I never sold?

    $500 weekly S&P 500 DCA since 2015 held to the last date — no rebalancing out, no panic sales. Historical contributions versus ending value.

  2. Assumptions

    What this page actually assumes

    • You keep buying $500/week.
    • You do not sell in 2018, 2020, or 2022.
    • Ending value is marked at the last Friday we publish — still invested.
    • No tax-loss harvesting, no cash-out for a house. This page is the boring hold.

  3. Historical data

    2020-01-03 → 2026-08-28

    The line includes every drawdown in the 2015+ window. If the chart looks painful in 2020 or 2022, that is the point: “never sold” is a rule you would have had to keep on those Fridays.

    Series: S&P 500. Same contribution calendar. No data before 2015.

  4. Interactive simulation

    Change the habit, stay on the real curve

    Amount
    Start year

    $500/week · S&P 500

    2020-01-03 → 2026-08-28 · $500/week · S&P 500

    Contributed$174,000
    Held to the last date$310,672
    Return+78.5%
    SteadyGrow value$403,592
    vs blind DCA+$92,920
    S&P 5002020-01-03 → 2026-08-28 · $500/week
     +$92,920 vs blind (+29.9%)Ended +29.9%
    Blind DCASteadyGrow
    $0$106k$211k$317k$422k2020-012021-042022-092023-122025-052026-08

  5. Results

    What the numbers say

    Contributed capital versus portfolio value is the hold. SteadyGrow’s line is the same rule with variable weekly size — still no selling the stack, just changing how much new cash arrives.

  6. What changes if…

    Nearby questions

    What if the weekly amount wasn't always the same?

    These pages fix the contribution. SteadyGrow keeps the same long-term budget and sizes weeks from valuation — more when markets are cheap, less when they're stretched.

    Get weekly signals — $29/quarterLive $500/wk experiment →