Apple: a lump sum beat spreading it out in 67% of start months
Every start month in the real price history of Apple — 539 of them, from Dec 1980 to Sep 2025.
Data as of September 10, 2026
Your result
67%
of all 12-month windows since 1980, investing all at once finished ahead.
- Median gap
- +9.3%
- Worst for lump sum
- -65.2%
- Best for lump sum
- +113.5%
Half of the 539 windows ended further ahead than this.
Starting Aug 2000: $3,044 against $8,753.
Starting Jul 1982: $25,821 against $12,097.
Total return, dividends reinvested. Cash still waiting to be invested earns nothing. Prices to Sep 2026.
Each bar is one start month: how much more, or less, the lump sum was worth at the end of its 12 months. Select a bar to draw that window below.
| Start year | Windows | Lump sum won | Median gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 2 | 0% | -22.4% |
| 1981 | 12 | 8% | -17.8% |
| 1982 | 12 | 92% | +42.1% |
| 1983 | 12 | 33% | -26.1% |
| 1984 | 12 | 25% | -14.3% |
| 1985 | 12 | 67% | +26.7% |
| 1986 | 12 | 100% | +39.0% |
| 1987 | 12 | 75% | +5.8% |
| 1988 | 12 | 33% | -1.3% |
| 1989 | 12 | 50% | -0.4% |
| 1990 | 12 | 83% | +11.5% |
| 1991 | 12 | 58% | +4.2% |
| 1992 | 12 | 33% | -12.2% |
| 1993 | 12 | 50% | -9.5% |
| 1994 | 12 | 83% | +8.0% |
| 1995 | 12 | 8% | -24.6% |
| 1996 | 12 | 0% | -15.8% |
| 1997 | 12 | 83% | +9.6% |
| 1998 | 12 | 100% | +23.9% |
| 1999 | 12 | 83% | +53.3% |
| 2000 | 12 | 17% | -43.6% |
| 2001 | 12 | 50% | -2.1% |
| 2002 | 12 | 50% | -6.9% |
| 2003 | 12 | 100% | +23.6% |
| 2004 | 12 | 100% | +56.2% |
| 2005 | 12 | 92% | +19.7% |
| 2006 | 12 | 92% | +26.3% |
| 2007 | 12 | 75% | +20.1% |
| 2008 | 12 | 33% | -9.7% |
| 2009 | 12 | 100% | +31.2% |
| 2010 | 12 | 100% | +18.8% |
| 2011 | 12 | 100% | +22.0% |
| 2012 | 12 | 17% | -10.1% |
| 2013 | 12 | 100% | +12.2% |
| 2014 | 12 | 100% | +20.5% |
| 2015 | 12 | 8% | -8.3% |
| 2016 | 12 | 100% | +19.7% |
| 2017 | 12 | 100% | +11.6% |
| 2018 | 12 | 75% | +3.3% |
| 2019 | 12 | 100% | +25.9% |
| 2020 | 12 | 92% | +19.0% |
| 2021 | 12 | 83% | +9.8% |
| 2022 | 12 | 58% | +0.5% |
| 2023 | 12 | 75% | +6.1% |
| 2024 | 12 | 67% | +4.6% |
| 2025 | 9 | 78% | +12.9% |
What the Apple record actually says
Across 539 start months, a lump sum finished ahead 361 times and behind 178 times. The median gap was +9.3%: half of the 539 windows were wider than that, half narrower. The worst month to have gone all in was Aug 2000 ($3,044 against $8,753); the best was Jul 1982 ($25,821 against $12,097).
All of it computed from the same month-end closes the charts above draw — a description of what happened, not a forecast.
Change the amount or the spread
Open Apple in the interactive backtest to try a different amount or a different number of months.
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About these Apple numbers
This backtest shows what happened to a real price series and nothing more. It excludes trading costs, spreads, currency conversion and tax, assumes cash waiting to be invested earns nothing, and cannot tell you what the next window will do. It is information, not investment advice.
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