What investing from 2010 was like
Since 2010 the market has mostly gone one way. Only two of the 16 calendar years lost money: 2018, down 4.4% after a late-year sell-off, and 2022, down 18.1% as inflation forced the Federal Reserve to raise rates quickly.
Near-zero interest rates and the rise of the big technology companies pushed the return since 2010 to 14.13% a year, well above the long-run average of about 10%. It ranks 24th of the 140 periods of this length in our data.
All at once, or a little each month?
$10,000 invested on the first day of 2010 grew to $82,884 by the end of 2025. The same $10,000 spread evenly over all 192 months, $52.08 a month, grew to $35,704. Across every 16-year period in the data, investing it all at once came out ahead in 98% of them, because money invested sooner spends longer in a market that rises more often than it falls.
How 2010–2025 ranks
There are 140 periods of 16 calendar years in the data, which starts in 1871. This one ranks 24 of 140, with 14.13% a year. The best was 1983–1998 at 18.35%, the median 8.61%, and the worst 1929–1944 at 1.82%.
Every year since 2010: returns, inflation and the value of $100
| Year | Total return | Inflation | Real return | $100 from 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | +14.9% | +1.5% | +13.1% | $114.87 |
| 2011 | +2.1% | +3.0% | −0.9% | $117.25 |
| 2012 | +15.9% | +1.7% | +13.9% | $135.87 |
| 2013 | +32.4% | +1.5% | +30.5% | $179.93 |
| 2014 | +13.8% | +0.8% | +12.9% | $204.78 |
| 2015 | +1.3% | +0.7% | +0.6% | $207.46 |
| 2016 | +11.9% | +2.1% | +9.7% | $232.21 |
| 2017 | +21.9% | +2.1% | +19.4% | $283.16 |
| 2018 | −4.4% | +1.9% | −6.2% | $270.67 |
| 2019 | +31.7% | +2.3% | +28.8% | $356.58 |
| 2020 | +18.4% | +1.4% | +16.8% | $422.12 |
| 2021 | +28.8% | +7.0% | +20.4% | $543.81 |
| 2022 | −18.1% | +6.5% | −23.1% | $445.33 |
| 2023 | +26.3% | +3.3% | +22.2% | $562.41 |
| 2024 | +25.0% | +2.9% | +21.5% | $703.12 |
| 2025 | +17.9% | +2.7% | +14.8% | $828.84 |
How this is calculated
Returns are calendar-year total returns: the change in the S&P 500 plus dividends, reinvested. Before 1957 the figures are Robert Shiller’s reconstruction of the broad U.S. market, as the index itself didn’t yet have 500 stocks. Real returns subtract December-to-December inflation. The data is yearly, so falls within a year, like the spring of 2020, don’t show; the biggest fall here is measured between year-end values. Fees and taxes are left out.
For what prices did over the same years, see what $100 in 2010 is worth today. Every figure here comes from the same data as the S&P 500 return calculator. The method is on the methodology page.
Sources
- Robert J. Shiller, U.S. stock market data (S&P Composite, dividends and CPI), Yale University.
- S&P Dow Jones Indices, S&P 500 total returns for recent years.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index (CPI-U), December values.