Stock DCA simulator

Dollar-Cost Averaging — investing a fixed amount every month regardless of market conditions. You buy more shares when prices are low and fewer when high, automatically lowering your average cost. Instead of trying to time the market, you spread your entry points over time to reduce volatility risk. It's the most practical approach for salaried investors deploying part of each paycheck.

Yes — the yield comes from Yahoo Finance's trailing 12-month actual distributions, refreshed every 5 minutes. A ⚡ icon on a preset button means live data is applied. However, the price growth rates (SCHD 7% / VOO 9% / QQQ 12%) are assumptions based on long-term historical averages and do not guarantee future returns. Actual results can vary widely with market conditions, interest rates, and FX.

For high-yield ETFs like SCHD, reinvestment can account for 30–40% of the final portfolio value over 25–30 years. Buying more shares with received dividends creates a compounding loop where those new shares also pay dividends. On the chart, the gap between the solid 'reinvest' line and the dashed 'cash' line shows exactly this effect. In the accumulation phase, reinvest ON is the key to maximizing long-term returns.

For US residents who've filed a W-9, US-domiciled ETF dividends generally aren't subject to a 15% withholding at source — that flat treaty rate applies to non-resident holders. You owe the tax at filing instead, so the withholding field simply lets you model that tax drag: in a taxable account most ETF distributions are 'qualified dividends' taxed at 0%, 15%, or 20% by income (high earners add the 3.8% net investment income tax), so you might enter your effective rate; in a Roth IRA, traditional IRA, or 401(k), reinvested dividends are tax-free or tax-deferred, so set it to 0%. Capital gains tax on shares you later sell — 0/15/20% long-term, your ordinary rate short-term — is separate.

All of the math runs in dollars — contributions, share prices, dividends, and the final value — and a single constant exchange rate is applied only to the secondary-currency figure under each result card, so it never changes the USD outcome. For a US investor buying a US-domiciled ETF there is no conversion step at all. Currency still reaches you through what the fund owns, though: an international fund like VXUS, or the roughly 40% of VT that sits outside the US, holds shares priced in yen, euros, and other currencies. A weaker dollar lifts the dollar value of those holdings and a stronger dollar drags on them even when local prices do not move, which is why VT and VOO can diverge by several points in a strong-dollar year. Currency-hedged share classes strip that swing out for an extra fee. Because this tool applies one growth rate to whatever you enter, any currency effect is already baked into the historical average you type in rather than modeled separately.

Yes. The four presets — SCHD, VOO, QQQ, VT — are only starting points; overwrite the growth rate and dividend yield with your own numbers and the model follows them. For a total-market fund like VTI, an international fund like VXUS, or a target-date fund, look up the trailing 12-month yield and pair it with a deliberately conservative long-run growth assumption. The withholding field is really a tax-drag field: set it to 0% when modeling a Roth IRA, traditional IRA, or 401(k), where reinvested distributions are never taxed year to year. For a taxable account, enter your own effective dividend rate — 0%, 15%, or 20% for qualified dividends depending on income, your ordinary rate for non-qualified income such as REIT distributions and most bond-fund payouts, plus 3.8% more if your MAGI clears $200,000 single or $250,000 married filing jointly. Funds holding foreign stocks often pay partly non-qualified dividends and may have foreign tax withheld, which you can sometimes recover as a foreign tax credit in a taxable account but not inside an IRA.

No. Statistically, assuming markets rise over the long run, investing spare capital all at once (lump-sum) beat DCA in roughly two-thirds of historical periods. But most salaried investors don't have a lump sum — they invest part of each monthly paycheck, so DCA is the only realistic option. DCA's real value is spreading 'buying at the top' risk over time, which psychologically helps you keep investing consistently.

There's no single right answer, but being conservative is safer. The US S&P 500's average annual nominal return since 1957 is roughly 10% with dividends, about 7% real after inflation. Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) has been more volatile with higher long-term averages but deeper drawdowns. The presets (SCHD 7% / VOO 9% / QQQ 12%) are historical averages — don't assume the future is rosy; also compare conservative scenarios like 6–8%.

Consistency and duration matter more than the amount. Compounding grows non-linearly with time, so starting early with a small amount often beats starting late with more. For example, $500/month at 8% for 30 years turns $180,000 of principal into over $700,000. Use this calculator to vary amount, period, and return until you find a combination that fits your goal — retirement, a home down payment, and so on.

At most US brokers it is automatic and free. Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab and the other large retail brokers let you switch dividend reinvestment on per position or account-wide, and they buy fractional shares, so the whole distribution goes back to work on the payment date instead of sitting in cash. Two details matter in a taxable account. First, the dividend is taxable in the year you receive it whether you reinvest or not, so you can owe tax on money you never saw as cash — plan to cover it from elsewhere. Second, every reinvestment creates a new tax lot with its own cost basis and holding period, so a lot bought less than a year before you sell is a short-term gain, and an automatic reinvestment within 30 days of harvesting a loss in the same fund can trip the wash-sale rule and disallow that loss. Inside a 401(k), traditional IRA, or Roth IRA none of this applies: turn reinvestment on and leave it alone.