Day: February 23, 2026

Investing $500 per month from August 2000 through April 2013 involves 153 monthly contributions, totaling a principal investment of $76,500. Depending on the chosen investment vehicle, the final amount varies significantly. Notably, this period includes two major market crashes: the Dot-com bubble (2000-2002) and the Global Financial Crisis (2008).

Investment Scenarios

S&P 500 (Dividends Reinvested): Your balance would have grown to approximately $112,000. Despite starting at the peak of the dot-com bubble and enduring the 2008 crash, consistent monthly contributions (Dollar Cost Averaging) allowed you to buy more shares when prices were low, leading to a total return of roughly 46% over the principal.

High-Yield Savings/CDs: Based on historical interest rates which averaged around 1.5% – 2.5% for much of the 2000s before dropping below 1% after 2009, your balance would have reached approximately $88,000 – $92,000.

Cash (No Interest): Simply saving the money without any growth would result in exactly your principal: $76,500.

Key Data & Context

Market Volatility: The S&P 500 began this period around 1,460 (August 2000) and ended near 1,590 (April 2013). While the price index only grew marginally, reinvesting dividends was critical for growth.

Inflation Impact: $1,000 in 2000 had the same purchasing power as approximately $1,352 in 2013 due to a cumulative inflation rate of 35.3%. This means your $76,500 in total contributions was worth significantly more in terms of “buying power” when you started than when you finished.

The “Lost Decade”: This specific timeframe is often cited as a difficult period for investors because the market effectively went “nowhere” for 13 years if dividends were ignored; however, monthly investing turned this stagnation into a gain.

---

Compared to another tougher time period

The 1970s were tougher times though due to inflation. Politicians of both parties play too carelessly with inflation, it’s by far the single most destructive thing a politician can do to a country.

Investing $50 a month from January 1968 to December 1982 (a 15-year period) into an S&P 500 index fund with dividends reinvested would have resulted in a total contribution of $9,000, growing to an estimated end balance of roughly $15,000 to $17,000 by the end of 1982.

During this 15-year window, the U.S. experienced “Great Inflation,” with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rising by approximately 177%. Because your end balance (~$16,000) was less than the inflation-adjusted value of your contributions (~$25,000), your investment actually had a negative real return. In 1982 dollars, you effectively had less “buying power” than the total money you had tucked away over those 15 years.

Investing $50 a month in a standard passbook savings account from 1968 to 1982 would have been significantly worse than the stock market, primarily due to government-imposed interest rate caps known as Regulation Q. Under Regulation Q, banks were legally prohibited from paying more than about 5% to 5.5% on savings accounts for most of this period. Even when inflation hit 13.5% in 1980, your bank was often stuck paying you only 5.25%. Because inflation was much higher than the interest rate cap, savers essentially paid a “tax” on their purchasing power. By 1979, the real return on these accounts reached a low of -5.8%.