If You Invested $1,000 In The S&P 500 10 Years Ago, Here’s How Much You’d Have Now

The S&P 500 index has long been one of the most effective wealth-building tools for everyday investors, compounding steadily over the past decade. While it hadn’t enjoyed the jaw-dropping performance of a single breakout stock like Nvidia (NVDA), the index has delivered steady growth — making it one of the simplest and most reliable ways to invest in the stock market.

The index’s strength comes from its resilience and breadth — it represents about 80 percent of the total U.S. stock market’s value, with 500 of the country’s largest companies spanning every major industry.

From September 2015 to September 2025, the S&P 500 more than doubled in value, weathering a pandemic, inflation spikes and interest rate hikes along the way. That kind of performance highlights why the S&P is often considered the most reliable gauge of the U.S. economy — and a core holding in countless investor portfolios.

How much money you’d have if you invested $1,000 in the S&P 500

So, what does a decade of steady compounding growth actually look like for an investor?

While you can’t invest directly in the S&P 500, you can buy a fund that tracks the index. For the purpose of this article, we used SPY — also known as SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust — the oldest and one of the largest exchange-traded funds in the United States.

Using historical data from Morningstar, here’s what a $1,000 investment in SPY would be worth today (based on SPY’s closing level on Sept. 11, 2025):

• 1 year: A $1,000 investment in SPY one year ago has grown by about 10.44 percent and would be worth $1,104.40 today.
• 5 years: A $1,000 investment in SPY five years ago has grown by 58.37 percent and would be worth $1,583.70 today.
• 10 years: A $1,000 investment in SPY 10 years ago has grown by 267.69 percent and would be worth $3,676.90 today.

That comes out to an annualized return of about 13.9 percent over the past decade — a bit above the index’s long-term average of roughly 10–11 percent.

That gain doesn’t even include dividends, which have added significantly to investors’ returns when reinvested over time.

Why staying invested matters

While the S&P 500 may have averaged a nearly 14 percent annualized return over the last decade, you can only capture those kinds of returns in your own portfolio by staying invested through the ups and downs.   

The S&P 500 has experienced sharp selloffs in the last 10 years. During the Covid-19 pandemic, for example, the S&P 500 tumbled from its Feb. 19, 2020, peak, losing a third of its value and bottoming out at 66 percent of that high by March 23. Investors who panicked and pulled money out locked in those losses. But those who stayed the course not only recovered but also saw the index rebound to new highs less than one year later. 

History shows missing just a handful of the market’s best days can dramatically stunt your long-term returns. Nearly eight in 10 of the S&P 500’s best days have happened during bear markets or in the first two months of a rebound, according to an analysis by Hartford Funds, an asset management company. If you had missed the 10 best days over the past 30 years, your returns would have been cut in half.

That’s why long-term investors often say time in the market matters more than timing the market.

How to invest in the S&P 500

The easiest way for everyday investors to get exposure to the index is through index funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track the S&P 500. These low-cost funds pool together all 500 companies in the index, offering instant diversification across multiple sectors. Those benefits are why index funds top Bankrate’s list of the best investments.

Some of the most popular choices include the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), the Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VOO) and the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV). Each of these offers low fees, broad diversification and the ability to passively track the index’s performance without needing to research or handpick individual stocks.

That’s a big deal because low costs matter in the long run. A seemingly small difference in expense ratios — say, 0.03 percent versus 1 percent — can add up to thousands of dollars in savings over decades of compounding.

Why index funds work for long-term investors

Index funds aren’t designed to beat the market — they’re designed to be the market. And while that might not sound exciting, history suggests it’s one of the smartest long-term strategies available to investors.

Picking individual stocks can be rewarding if you’re lucky enough to spot the next Nvidia or Amazon (AMZN) early on, but few investors do. By owning the whole index, you don’t need to guess which company will dominate the next decade. You’ll automatically own the winners as they emerge — and the losers will fall away without sinking your portfolio.

In recent years, many financial analysts have raised concerns that the S&P isn’t as broad and diversified as it looks. A big chunk of the S&P 500’s post-pandemic gains have come from just seven companies: Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG), Amazon, Meta Platforms (META), Nvidia and Tesla (TSLA). Together, they now make up at least a third of the index’s value, with returns leaning heavily on a handful of tech giants.

Still, concentration isn’t new for the S&P 500. Leaders shift over time — from railroads to oil to tech — and the index adapts. Today’s tech dominance reflects where growth is happening, and owning the S&P ensures you’ll capture the performance of the next leaders, whatever sector they come from.

That balance has helped the S&P 500 generate wealth for millions of Americans. And it’s why investing legend Warren Buffett has repeatedly advised the average investor to simply buy an S&P 500 index fund and hold it for the long term.

Bottom line

If you had invested $1,000 in the S&P 500 10 years ago, you’d have nearly $3,677 today. That’s not a flashy overnight win, but it’s the kind of steady growth that builds real wealth over time. An S&P 500 index fund is the easiest and cheapest way to share in the growth. 

Editorial Disclaimer: All investors are advised to conduct their own independent research into investment strategies before making an investment decision. In addition, investors are advised that past investment product performance is no guarantee of future price appreciation.