The values in these tables are NOT the share prices in dollars. Instead All numbers are Total Return % (percent gain for the years and the compounded year span). The Gain is then comparable with the others.
The data years are the ticker's Morningstar Total Return percentage at each year, which includes both price gain and any dividends reinvested in that period. Not reinvesting dividends is very costly long term, with much less long term compounding (See more. See the compounding math.) If you don't find your brokerage's way to specify reinvesting stock dividends, then see this (ETF may be excluded from reinvesting dividends, because ETF trades in shares, not dollars).
Morningstar shows Total Return % in two ways. The individual year end results (2021, 2022, 2023, etc) used here are the Total Return of each year as of each year end (from 12/31 to 12/31) so the current year is as yet incomplete). But the Morningstar Trailing Returns of the 1, 3, 5, 10 and 15 year periods are the Annualized Returns of the span duration, but of years back from the current date, instead of from year end values. Both are 12 month results, but the one year date difference will not be the exact same value as the year end YTD values shown here. However the YTD value shown is correct for the current year so far.
The Span is the compounded Total Return % for the selected year span (span years indicated with bold headers). There is 11 years of data. Showing the five early years 2015-2019 will need a screen wider than many cell phones, but they need not be shown to include them in a Span.
The Span calculations do not change if clicking to sort on Ticker or Name columns.
The Header column color legend:
Not in Span Columns Not included in current Span.
Span The Span years currently selected (compounded result)
Sort The Sorted column (brighter).
The Ticker column color legend:
S&P 500 Tickers are companies in the S&P 500 Index (Almost all of the top 100). The Bold names are the S&P 500 Top 10 and the S&P 500 Index. The S&P 500 Index is represented by the Vanguard VFIAX fund (with fund fee of 0.04%). There are many S&P 500 Index funds, all trying to mimic the performance of the index, so their results are pretty much the same except for the varying fund fees. If interested in one of these funds, I suggest avoiding those with higher fees. The fee may seem a tiny number, but compounded long term (20 or 30 years), it becomes a very large number lost.
Not S&P 500 Tickers are Companies NOT in the S&P 500.
Funds Tickers are funds consisting of many companies. Fund names starting with a "V " are Vanguard funds and those with "Amer. Cent. " are American Century funds. Mutual fund tickers end with "X", but some ETF and company tickers also end with X, but Not with same meaning.
ETF ETF funds. ETF trade as whole shares during market hours (like stocks). But mutual funds trade as dollars, only after the next market close (typically including fractional shares). Any dividend reinvestment or IRA RMD are in dollars, possibly making ETF fractions difficult for brokerages.
Option 6 Tickers were added by Option 6.
The Data color legend:
Options 2 and 4 divide shades of red and green annual colors at ± 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50% gain. Option 3 highlights extremes by showing the color only if gain exceeds the specified limits.
Warning A warning in the Compounded data columns.
A few of these tickers are newer with no data before their ticker existed. Those early empty cells are ignored, with no effect on the computing. Except if the a blank year is in the span, the last two columns (Span Gain and Annualized) have an orange background which warns that some of the first span years are missing data which is a shorter time span. The numbers are accurate for the existing years, but the orange data background result is a WARNING that it is NOT comparable to the ranking of the others due to the fewer years in its time period. The overall gains are in sorted order and accurate for the shorter span, but their Annualized values will not be in sorted order.
Annualized Return (Gain)
is the meaningful way to compare long term stock performance numbers. It's useful and important because stock years have varied performance, some years are up big, some years less, or even some years may be negative, and then those results are compounded by the following years. An AVERAGE GAIN is not useful, as it does not include compounding. The actual real market gain performance over several years is not so obvious. We can see the overall dollar gain that was achieved, which is good to know, but of course that depends on the number of years, and which years. The Annualized Gain is the number to compare.To know an annualized rate of gain that can be compared meaningfully, Annualized Return computes the Fixed Rate that would give the SAME compounded gain in the same time, the exact same result, but AS IF IT HAD BEEN THAT FIXED ANNUAL RATE every year. The market didn't happen that way, but Annualized is still exactly the same gain dollars and time result, and is the valid logical and consistent way to compare the variable long term market performance of years of various gains. Annualized rate is comprehensibly comparable to other stocks if for the same time frame.
Annualized Return is only meaningful for Whole years, so MUST NOT be computed if the data span includes an incomplete year (like the current year). Including incomplete years cannot be correct because it would compute a future that is not known. To see Annualized Return for your selected span here, remove 2025 from the year span. Or see Option 5 with a multiple year span (it isolates 2025). Annualized Return for a span of one year is the same number as the one year Gain, but is shown anyway. The current year does show its current YTD Gain, however the future gain of the incomplete current year is not known, and will change a little every market day, Any Annualized gain of any span including the current year cannot be shown.
If the span includes blank early years, the Gain column is sorted correctly, and the Annualized sort ORDER is in the Same ORDER (Not the same Value, but same sort ORDER) following the Gain column, with a orange warning on these cells indicates its result is of different time periods (if missing early years). The significance of the orange cell warnings is that they are not directly comparable to the others then. The significance of the Annualized numbers is for the span of fewer actual whole years. (See a detailed description of Annualized Return.)
The future is looking bright after the election.
Other market pages and calculators:
S&P 500 50 year gain history calculator, concerned with Withdrawal Depletion
Descriptions of S&P 500, the 4% Rule, Basics of Markets and Dividends
Math of Compounding and Annualized Return, and calculators
S&P 500 daily Action, and Count of annual S&P 500 Record Highs
Dividends are in fact a forced withdrawal which reduces your investment's price, value and future gains. But you can put it back by Reinvesting Dividends, which restores the previous investment value, and the dividend becomes Free additional new shares, greatly increasing long term gain compounding. Either way, there is no new income on that first dividend day. You will owe tax on the gains in that withdrawal either way.
Our government's results (better some years than others)
Current U.S. CPI Inflation rate +2.9% (up 0.2% in December)
U.S. Inflation Rate history 1913 - 2024
U.S. Fed Interest rate history 1955-2025
U.S. GDP growth rate history 1962-2025
U.S. National debt:
$36.4 Trillion Highest debt ever, even more than in WWII.
Ratio of Debt to GDP (US debt now is 122% of GDP)
Now including DOGE clock
Copyright © 2021-2025 by Wayne Fulton - All rights are reserved.
