Index Funds Ranked by Ten-Year Price Return

Most rankings of this kind are written once and then quietly drift out of date, which matters because the ordering genuinely changes. This one is derived from ten years of monthly closes each time the page rebuilds, so what you are reading is the current ordering rather than the ordering on some past publication date.

How this is ordered. Ordered by price return over the trailing ten years, best first, computed from monthly closing prices.

1. 1

   VGT · Vanguard Information Technology ETF

   Vanguard Information Technology, a single-sector fund

   +850%

   Ten-year price return

   A pure technology bet, and over this particular decade that was the winning bet, at around $95,022. Read that as a statement about the decade rather than a prediction, because a fund concentrated in one sector is only ever as good as that sector.

   $95,022 from $10,000 over ten years
2. 2

   QQQ · Invesco QQQ (Nasdaq-100)

   Invesco QQQ, tracking the Nasdaq-100

   +587%

   Ten-year price return

   The Nasdaq-100, so heavier in technology and lighter in banks and energy. It beat the S&P over this stretch, reaching about $68,653, and it fell considerably harder in 2022. The extra return and the extra drawdown are the same decision.

   $68,653 from $10,000 over ten years
3. 3

   VOO · Vanguard S&P 500 ETF

   Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, 0.03% expense ratio

   +295%

   Ten-year price return

   The default choice, and the benchmark the others are measured against. Five hundred of the largest US companies at a rounding-error fee, which turned $10,000 into roughly $39,525 over the decade. If you are not sure what to own, this is the answer most of the evidence points to.

   $39,525 from $10,000 over ten years
4. 4

   VTI · Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF

   Vanguard Total Stock Market, small caps included

   +283%

   Ten-year price return

   Essentially every listed US company, small caps included, ending near $38,270. It tracks VOO closely because the same giants dominate both, so owning the pair together adds far less diversification than it appears to.

   $38,270 from $10,000 over ten years
5. 5

   SCHD · Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF

   Schwab US Dividend Equity, screened for payout history

   +172%

   Ten-year price return

   The income option, screening for companies with long unbroken dividend records, at roughly $27,166 on price alone - the most understated figure on this list, since SCHD pays out more of its return as dividends than any other fund here. It usually lags growth funds in a bull market and holds up better in an ugly one, which is the trade it exists to make.

   $27,166 from $10,000 over ten years

Past performance does not indicate future results, and a ten-year window flatters whatever happened to work over that window. This is a description of what has already happened, not a forecast.