What if?

  1. The question

    What if I started in 2015?

    $500 a week into the S&P 500 from 2015 — the earliest window we can show honestly. Compare with starting in 2020 or 2022 using the chips below.

  2. Assumptions

    What this page actually assumes

    • $500/week, S&P 500, no withdrawals.
    • “Started earlier” here means 2015, the first year on our weekly curves — not 10 years before that, and not a simulated childhood.
    • The comparison run starts in 2020 with the same weekly amount so you can see time-in-market on one page.
    • Year chips change the baseline start (and the comparison start if you pick a year). They never invent data before 2015.

  3. Historical data

    2015-01-02 → 2026-08-28

    2015–present includes a calm grind, a crash, a rebound, and a bear. A 2020 start skips the first five years of contributions and compounding. Both use the same Friday series.

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

  4. Interactive simulation

    Change the habit, stay on the real curve

    Amount
    Start year

    $250/week · S&P 500

    2015-01-02 → 2026-08-28 · $250/week · S&P 500

    Contributed$152,250
    Held to the last date$397,573
    Return+161.1%
    SteadyGrow value$514,919
    vs blind DCA+$117,346
    S&P 5002015-01-02 → 2026-08-28 · $250/week
     +$117,346 vs blind (+29.5%)Ended +29.5%
    Blind DCASteadyGrow
    $0$135k$270k$405k$540k2015-012017-052019-082021-122024-042026-08

    $250/week · S&P 500

    Same $500/week, but starting in 2020

    2020-01-03 → 2026-08-28 · $250/week · S&P 500

    Contributed$87,000
    Held to the last date$155,336
    Return+78.5%
    SteadyGrow value$201,796
    vs blind DCA+$46,460
    S&P 5002020-01-03 → 2026-08-28 · $250/week
     +$46,460 vs blind (+29.9%)Ended +29.9%
    Blind DCASteadyGrow
    $0$52.8k$106k$158k$211k2020-012021-042022-092023-122025-052026-08

  5. Results

    What the numbers say

    The early start usually wins on total value because more cash went in for longer. That is the whole trick. It is not a personality difference; it is calendar math on a real index.

  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 →