How Our VOO Calculator Works

Price growth and dividend yield are separate

Every calculator on this site treats price appreciation and dividend yield as two independent inputs. We never add a dividend yield on top of a “total return” figure, because total return already includes dividends — combining the two would double-count them and overstate your results.

Compounding schedule

Contributions are added at the start of each month, and the balance then compounds at the monthly-equivalent of your chosen annual price growth rate. That monthly rate is derived so that compounding it twelve times produces exactly your stated annual rate.

Dividends are calculated quarterly (four times a year), matching VOO’s real distribution schedule, using the same compounding logic applied to a quarterly period.

Dividend reinvestment (DRIP)

With DRIP switched on, each quarterly dividend is added directly to your invested balance, so it participates in future price growth and future dividend payments. With DRIP switched off, dividends accumulate separately as uninvested cash and are not compounded further.

Expense ratio

VOO’s published returns are already net of its expense ratio (currently 0.03%), so we do not subtract it a second time from your projection. Any fee estimate we display is purely informational, showing the approximate dollar cost implied by that expense ratio on your invested balance.

Optional adjustments

• Annual contribution increase raises your monthly contribution by a fixed percentage at the start of each subsequent year.
• Inflation rate is used only to discount your final results into today’s purchasing power — it does not affect the nominal dollar projection.
• Dividend tax rate is applied to each dividend payment before it is reinvested or set aside as cash.

Data sources

Fund-specific figures (expense ratio, inception date, historical growth and yield presets) come from Vanguard’s published fund materials and are reviewed periodically. This page was last verified against those sources on TODO: SET ON PUBLISH.

• Vanguard VOO fund page (TODO: verify URL)
• Vanguard VOO fact sheet (TODO: verify URL)

Limitations

Every calculator here assumes a constant annual growth rate and dividend yield for simplicity. Real markets fluctuate significantly year to year, and past performance does not guarantee future results. These tools are for education and planning only — see our full disclaimer.