From 24/7 Wall St. · Ryne Mauck · · 2m
What $10,000 in SPY in 1993 is worth today
The original S&P 500 ETF turned early investors into millionaires, but cheaper alternatives now exist.
In brief
The original S&P 500 ETF turned early investors into millionaires, but cheaper alternatives now exist. A $10,000 investment in SPY at launch would be worth $312,667 today, but lower-cost alternatives like VOO and IVV now offer the same exposure for less. Originally reported by 24/7 Wall St..
The original bet paid off
$10,000 invested in SPY at its January 1993 launch is worth roughly $312,667 today. That's a 3,027% gain, or about 10.8% annually compounded over 33 years.
SPY created the template
SPY was the first U.S.-listed ETF. State Street wrapped the S&P 500 in an exchange-traded package that every subsequent index fund has copied.
Megacaps now dominate the index
NVIDIA, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Broadcom, Meta, and Tesla now drive a disproportionate share of daily moves. A handful of names control what broad market exposure means.
Liquidity comes at a cost
SPY charges 0.0945% annually, roughly three times what cheaper peers charge. Its unit investment trust structure can't reinvest dividends internally between distributions.
Vanguard's cheaper alternative
VOO tracks the same index at 0.03% and reinvests dividends immediately. The cost gap is small yearly but compounds to real money over decades.
BlackRock matches the price
IVV is functionally interchangeable with VOO at 0.03%. It integrates better with workplace 401(k) plans that already use iShares building blocks.
The cheapest option available
SPYM undercuts both at 0.02%, the lowest expense ratio in the category. Its lower share price makes it useful for small, regular dollar-cost averaging.
Equal weight changes everything
RSP owns the same 500 companies but weights each at roughly 0.2%, rebalanced quarterly. It's a bet on mean reversion within the same benchmark.
Equal weight costs more
RSP charges 0.20% annually, roughly seven times what VOO or IVV charge. It has historically trailed cap-weighted peers during long megacap runs.
Match the fund to your needs
Traders stick with SPY for liquidity. Long-term investors choose VOO or IVV for lower costs. Small contributors benefit from SPYM's lower share price.
In short
A $10,000 investment in SPY at launch would be worth $312,667 today, but lower-cost alternatives like VOO and IVV now offer the same exposure for less.
