ETF & Stock Comparisons
Head-to-head matchups worked through as real dollar-cost averaging backtests. Every page below reports actual results from the same simulation engine the calculator uses: final value, total return, annualized IRR, and each fund’s worst peak-to-trough decline, computed against real historical daily prices.
The percentages on each card are annualized returns for the plan described on that page. Figures last regenerated .
Running through today
VOO vs QQQ
Broad market vs. concentrated growth
The classic pairing: the full S&P 500 against the Nasdaq-100's tech-heavy tilt. Which one actually rewards a decade of steady contributions more, and what are you giving up either way?
- VOO
- +15.7% /yr
- QQQ
- +20.7% /yr
SCHD vs VYM
Two dividend ETFs, different selection rules
Both are popular 'dividend ETF' picks, but they select holdings very differently. That difference shows up in DRIP-driven compounding more than most people expect.
- SCHD
- +13.1% /yr
- VYM
- +12.5% /yr
VTI vs VXUS
US-only vs. adding international
The classic diversification debate: does holding the rest of the world alongside (or instead of) US stocks change your outcome, and does it reduce risk the way the textbook says?
- VTI
- +15.1% /yr
- VXUS
- +10.8% /yr
NVDA vs VOO
Single high-conviction stock vs. the index
A single stock can outrun the index by a wide margin, or lag it badly. This comparison is really about concentration risk: what you're signing up for either way.
- NVDA
- +63.9% /yr
- VOO
- +15.7% /yr
TQQQ vs QQQ
Leveraged vs. unleveraged
3x daily leverage sounds like 3x the return, but daily resets mean it isn't that simple. See how volatility drag actually plays out over a real DCA plan.
- TQQQ
- +39.0% /yr
- QQQ
- +20.7% /yr
SPMO vs VUG
Momentum factor vs. traditional growth
Both get called 'growth' ETFs, but one chases recent price momentum and the other chases business fundamentals. Their holdings can look almost nothing alike.
- SPMO
- +21.4% /yr
- VUG
- +17.9% /yr
NVDA vs INTC
Two chipmakers, opposite decades
In 2015 these were both large, profitable semiconductor companies. A DCA plan started then produced results that differ by more than an order of magnitude.
- NVDA
- +68.5% /yr
- INTC
- +16.5% /yr
Specific historical windows
The comparisons above all end today, which means they all end after a long bull market. These cover fixed historical date ranges instead, including the dot-com crash and the 2008 financial crisis, for stretches when the patterns investors have recently gotten used to did not hold at all.
QQQ vs SPY, 2000 to 2010
The dot-com crash and the lost decade
Every trailing-year QQQ vs SPY comparison favors tech-heavy growth. Here's what the same two tickers did over the ten years that started with the dot-com crash.
- QQQ
- +1.7% /yr
- SPY
- +0.7% /yr
Growth vs Value, 2000 to 2010
The decade value is said to have won
Growth has beaten value for most of the last 15 years, and the 2000s are the standard counterexample. Run as a real contribution plan, value's margin was two tenths of a point a year, with the deeper drawdown of the two.
- IVW
- +0.8% /yr
- IVE
- +1.0% /yr
VYM vs VTI, the 2008 crisis
Testing whether dividend stocks are actually defensive
SCHD didn't exist yet in 2008. VYM did. See whether a dividend-focused fund actually held up better than the total market when it mattered most.
- VYM
- -3.7% /yr
- VTI
- -1.8% /yr
International vs US, 2003 to 2008
When the rest of the world led
US investors have spent 15 years watching international lag. EFA against VTI over the 2003 to 2008 expansion shows the stretch when the ranking was reversed.
- EFA
- +19.8% /yr
- VTI
- +12.0% /yr