When you’re young, 25 years seems like it’s forever. With age, you realize that 25 years feel as though they’ve passed in the blink of an eye. What might have felt like locking up your money for eternity turns out to be one of the smartest ways to build wealth.

While putting it all in an index tracker such as the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO -0.25%) is not your only option for investing $50,000, here’s a sample of how much it could be worth 25 years down the road if you decided to strictly stick with the S&P 500.

Gold bars shaped like a graph, with gold letters and numbers in front that read, "S&P 500"

Image source: Getty Images.

A $50,000 investment

If you’re willing to let your initial investment, along with any dividends, ride for 25 years, here’s how much you could end up with.

Average rate of return

After 25 years
7% $271,372
7.5% $304,917
8% $342,424
8.5% $384,338
9% $431,154
9.5% $483,418
10% $541,735
10.5% $606,774
11% $679,273

Data Source: Author’s calculations

How the S&P 500 has performed in the past

The annualized yearly return of the S&P 500 with dividends reinvested over the last 100 years has been 10.6%. Adjusted for inflation, that’s 7.4%. If you narrow that timeline to 50 years, the annual return has been 11.8%, or 7.9% adjusted for inflation.

Keep in mind, in the past 100 years, the economy has experienced the shock of the Great Depression, World War II, the OPEC oil embargo, 1987’s Black Monday, the 2000 dot-com bubble burst, the global financial crisis of 2008, and the COVID-19 pandemic shock. Since 1928, there’s never been a 20-year period when the S&P 500 failed to generate a positive return.

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Vanguard S&P 500 ETF Stock Quote

Today’s Change

(-0.25%) $-1.76

Current Price

$706.99

Dramatic swings occur

As dependably as the market has performed over the past century, there have been years when the S&P has struggled. For example, in the heart of the Great Depression, the S&P 500 ended 1931 at -43.3%, and at the beginning of American involvement in World War II, it ended the year at -11.6%. More recently, the 2008 global financial crisis led to the S&P ending the year at -37%, and as a result of the financial impact of the pandemic, 2022 ended at -18%.

Still, because the market has rebounded from those losses, the S&P 500 has thrived over the past century.

You can’t expect the path always to be smooth. There will almost certainly be market drops, bear markets, and plenty of frightening headlines along the way. And yet, history shows that remaining invested through the ups and downs can be key to turning modest sums into large long-term wealth.

If you don’t have a lump sum of $50,000 to invest, that’s OK. Time and compounding work the same way, no matter how much you invest at a time. Adding small amounts at a time to an investment or retirement account has the same potential to build wealth.


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Shin John
Shin JohnYtv Market News
Share-market news writer and analyst with deep experience covering equities, commodities, forex, and cryptocurrencies for readers in the USA, UK, Canada, and Australia. Ytv Market News delivers timely market updates, practical trading insights, and clear explanations of macro and company-level catalysts that move prices. Combines on-the-ground financial reporting with technical analysis, using concise charts and actionable ideas to help investors and traders make smarter decisions.