Investing in the S&P 500: What Would $100 in 1972 be Worth Today?
Investing in the S&P 500 index is a great way to take advantage of long-term growth of capital. But have you ever wondered what your investment would be worth if you had started Investing back in 1972? In this article, we'll take a look at the potential return on a $100 investment in the S&P 500 index over the past 46 years.
The S&P 500 index is a market-cap-weighted index of the 500 largest publicly traded companies in the United States. It is used by investors as a benchmark for the U.S. stock market. The S&P 500 index was first calculated on March 4, 1957 with a base value of 10. By 1972, the index had grown to 102.27.
If you had invested $100 in the S&P 500 index in 1972, you would have had a total of $4,580 by the end of 2018. That's a return of 4,480% over 46 years! Moreover, if the fees and expenses that would have been deducted from Class A shares, the results would have been even higher.
Over the past 46 years, the S&P 500 index has seen some ups and downs. For example, the index hit a low of 102.27 in 1972 and a high of 2872.87 in 2018. But despite the volatility, the long-term trend has been upwards. That's why it's important to stay invested over the long-term and not to be swayed by short-term market fluctuations.
So, is the S&P 500 index a buy right now? That's a question that's hard to answer definitively, as the stock market is an unpredictable beast. In my earlier example of dollar-cost averaging, I said that a falling index would increase investment losses. investors need to formulate a fair assessment of the current market conditions and decide whether the S&P 500 index is a good buy at this moment.
While the human side of every war is awful and you should help out if you can, the financial side of this panic is very normal and we were expecting it. So if you're an investor, don't be too alarmed by the current market conditions. Stay the course and remain invested for the long-term.
In conclusion, Investing in the S&P 500 index is a great way to take advantage of long-term growth of capital. If you had invested $100 in the S&P 500 index in 1972, you would have had a total of $4,580 by the end of 2018. That's a return of 4,480% over 46 years! But it's important to formulate a fair assessment of the current market conditions before Investing.
