SPY DCA Calculator: Dollar Cost Averaging Returns

See what investing every week or month is worth today, with dividends reinvested.

$500 a month into SPY since January 2016 is worth $157,528 today, dividends reinvested: $65,000 invested, a 15.6% compounded annual return (CAGR). Run this example. This DCA calculator backtests dollar-cost averaging (DCA) in any stock or ETF on real history. Pick a start date, a first investment and a weekly or monthly buy. It buys at each day’s actual closing price, reinvests every real dividend, and shows what the plan is worth today with DRIP and without.

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State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF $769.70

Trend Signal: since Oct 16SPY has a Trend Signal — Oct 16 '26 (11 days ago)

State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY | AMEX

$769.70 $4.33 | 0.57%

Timeframe

1Y 5Y 10Y 20Y 30Y 40Y

Start Date:

End Date:

Initial Investment:

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Extra Investment:

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DCA Frequency:

Weekly Monthly Quarterly Yearly

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Total invested

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Final value (DRIP)

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DCA total return

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Year-by-Year: Invested vs DRIP Value

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SPY Dividend History: Dates, Payments & Yield list

Below is a schedule of all SPY dividend payments, ex-dates, share price on the day of the payment as well as the annualized yield & forward yield

SPY Compounded DCA Returns: History vs Projection

So far: the plan you ran turned $13,500 invested into $31,415 between Oct 27, 2016 and Oct 27, 2026, a 15.64% compounded annual return (CAGR) with dividends reinvested. Projected: if SPY keeps its last-5-year growth (share price +10.00% a year, dividend +5.75% a year, growth capped at 10% a year), $1,000 with DRIP grows to $54,724 in 40 years, about 10.52% a year compounded. The first figure is what compound returns actually did; the second is an estimate from past growth, not a promise.

Estimate future returns for SPY with our Dividend Calculator.

How the DCA Calculator Works

Buys. Your first investment buys at the first closing price on or after the start date. After that, the recurring amount buys every week, month, quarter or year. Fractional shares are kept, so every dollar is invested. Set the recurring amount to $0 to test a single lump sum.

Dividends. Each dividend is paid on the shares you held on its ex-dividend date. With DRIP, it buys more shares at the close of the first trading day after the pay date, and those shares earn the next dividend. Without DRIP, the dividend stays as cash and earns nothing.

Prices. Real daily closing prices, adjusted for stock splits, back to each ticker’s first close on record (SPY: Jan 29, 1993). ETFs start at their launch date.

Left out. No commissions, taxes or slippage. A real account will land a little lower.

Reading the results

• Total invested, Final value (DRIP), DCA total return: the three numbers at the top.
• Compounded DCA returns: total return, the plan’s compounded annual return (CAGR), the dividends’ share of the gain and the share price CAGR, then money invested against what it grew to, next to the projection.
• Year-by-Year chart: what you had invested against what it was worth at the end of each year, plus the dividends that year.
• Total Return chart: With DRIP, No DRIP and Total Invested on one chart. The gap between the first two is what reinvesting added. The Share Price tab shows the price over the same period.
• Performance Metrics: share price change and its CAGR, yield on cost, and how much the dividend grew.
• Dividend history: every ex-date, pay date and amount in the period.

Why DCA total return can trail the share price gain

The share price % compares the first and last price, as if all the money went in on day one. In a DCA plan most dollars go in later and have less time to grow. So a stock can be up more than a DCA plan in it. Both numbers are right; they answer different questions.

History vs projection

Everything above Projected Future Returns & Dividends is history. That section is a projection: it carries the stock’s 5-year, 10-year or lifetime growth rates forward, capped at 10% a year.

Comparing one lump sum across several tickers? The Total Return Calculator runs up to six side by side, with SPY always included.

DCA Calculator FAQ

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