SCHD: a lump sum beat spreading it out in 81% of start months since 2011
Every start month in the real price history of SCHD — 169 of them, from Oct 2011 to Sep 2025.
Data as of September 10, 2026
Your result
81%
of all 12-month windows since 2011, investing all at once finished ahead.
- Median gap
- +5.6%
- Worst for lump sum
- -5.6%
- Best for lump sum
- +26.8%
Half of the 169 windows ended further ahead than this.
Starting Nov 2024: $9,701 against $10,279.
Starting Oct 2020: $14,410 against $11,366.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 4 | 100% | +7.7% |
| 2012 | 12 | 100% | +8.2% |
| 2013 | 12 | 100% | +7.8% |
| 2014 | 12 | 83% | +4.0% |
| 2015 | 12 | 67% | +1.8% |
| 2016 | 12 | 100% | +6.4% |
| 2017 | 12 | 100% | +7.9% |
| 2018 | 12 | 75% | +3.2% |
| 2019 | 12 | 67% | +1.1% |
| 2020 | 12 | 92% | +17.0% |
| 2021 | 12 | 83% | +2.8% |
| 2022 | 12 | 42% | -0.7% |
| 2023 | 12 | 83% | +4.1% |
| 2024 | 12 | 67% | +2.8% |
| 2025 | 9 | 67% | +9.3% |
What the SCHD record actually says
Across 169 start months, a lump sum finished ahead 137 times and behind 32 times. The median gap was +5.6%: half of the 169 windows were wider than that, half narrower. The worst month to have gone all in was Nov 2024 ($9,701 against $10,279); the best was Oct 2020 ($14,410 against $11,366).
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 SCHD in the interactive backtest to try a different amount or a different number of months.
The same test on another asset
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About these SCHD 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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