Author Topic: Tool to analyze SP500 data  (Read 2201 times)

aknackformoney

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Tool to analyze SP500 data
« on: May 14, 2012, 12:55:03 AM »
As a hobby project, I've created a tool to analyze the SP500 historical data. It lets you simulate an index-investment with different parameters and get a graphical respresentation of the results (return versus risk).

You can find this here:
http://aknackformoney.com/longtermstockreturn.html

This is mostly meant to be educational. My hope is that, by playing with an interactive tool, people will better grasp the possible returns and risks than by just reading about it.

This tool is currently 'in beta'. I would like to invite everybody to play with it and tell me what you think about it. And if you like it, I would appreciate a link (if you have a blog or a website)!

arebelspy

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Re: Tool to analyze SP500 data
« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2012, 08:05:40 AM »
Hey, that's a neat tool!

I think it's really helpful to help visualize the invest vs/ pay down mortgage question.  "If I could put $X extra towards principal per month, I'd pay off my mortgage Y years early... what would have happened if I invest that 100/mo instead?"  Gives you not only the average likely return over that time span, but probability (i.e. "a 9% chance I will have a negative return on the money" or "1/3 chance I will return less than my 4% mortgage, so 2/3 chance I will make more money investing", etc.).

There's a few other uses that immediately spring to mind, but that's a big one.

I like it!
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.