Historical Dividend Studies

[Robandcindy2]

Perspective is everything. I recently found this wonderful site to compare reinvested dividends vs. taking those dividends as cash.

In both cases I went back to College Graduation/Commissioning as a USAF 2Lt. (May 1979 through Feb 2014)

Investing in the S&P 500:
(Results are adjusted for Inflation/CPI)

Total S&P 500 Price return
445.659%
Annualized Price Return
5.004%
S&P 500 Return (Dividends Reinvested)
1314.517%
Annualized Return (Dividends Reinvested)
7.922%

S & P 500 Dividend Reinvestment

The Wilshire 5000 shows similar results:
(Results are adjusted for Inflation/CPI)

Total Return without reinvested dividends
508.306%
Annualized Return
5.329%
Total Return Dividends Reinvested
1406.710%
Annualized Return
8.112%

Wilshire 5000 Dividend Reinvestment

Graph of the Wilshire 5000 1970-Present
"With both data points scaled to zero for December of 1970 (where the data begins), you can see the return that would have been ignored had we thrown out the dividends:" (http://dqydj.net/wilshire-5000-dividend-...alculator/)