Time in market outweighs Dow or S&P 500 choice for long-term returns

On May 31, analysts reaffirmed that long-term holding periods matter far more than selecting between the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500. Despite contrasting construction methods, both indexes have delivered nearly identical dividend-adjusted annualized returns of 10.4% and 10.2% respectively since the Dow’s 1896 inception. The Dow marked its 130th anniversary on May 26, highlighting how price-weighting anomalies such as Goldman Sachs’ 12.3% share and divergent outcomes for Salesforce versus Meta are ultimately neutralized by extended buy-and-hold strategies.