Read your result
Final value is the modeled value of all shares at the end of the period. It already includes the shares bought with reinvested dividends. Adding “total dividends” to this figure would count those dividends twice.
Total contributions is your starting principal plus the extra cash you add. Reinvested dividends do not increase this number: they came from the holding, not from another deposit.
Total dividends reinvested adds up each modeled payment. It is useful for seeing how much cash went back into shares, but it is not cash sitting outside the portfolio.
The model uses a $100 starting unit price to make the arithmetic consistent. “Model units” is a normalized quantity, not a prediction of how many shares of a particular stock you will own.
A $1,000 example you can check
Start with $1,000, a 4% annual dividend yield, quarterly reinvestment, no price growth, no dividend growth and no extra contributions. At the model's $100 starting price, that is 10 shares. Each share pays $1 per quarter.
| Quarter | Shares before payment | Dividend reinvested | Shares after payment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10.0000 | $10.00 | 10.1000 |
| 2 | 10.1000 | $10.10 | 10.2010 |
| 3 | 10.2010 | $10.20 | 10.3030 |
| 4 | 10.3030 | $10.30 | 10.4060 |
After one year, the modeled holding is worth $1,040.60. You supplied $1,000 and the holding paid $40.60, all reinvested.
With the same flat price and dividend, taking the payments as cash instead would leave 10 shares worth $1,000 plus $40 in cash: $1,040 altogether. In this deliberately simple example, the first year's difference is $0.60. It comes from later payments on the fractional shares bought earlier.
What the same assumptions produce over time
| End of year | Contributions | Dividends reinvested to date | Modeled holding value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000.00 | $40.60 | $1,040.60 |
| 2 | $1,000.00 | $82.86 | $1,082.86 |
| 3 | $1,000.00 | $126.84 | $1,126.84 |
| 5 | $1,000.00 | $220.20 | $1,220.20 |
| 10 | $1,000.00 | $488.88 | $1,488.88 |
These are worked examples with a fixed share price, not expected returns. The year-by-year table for your inputs uses the same calculation as the headline result.
The inputs change different parts of the calculation
Starting yield sets the first year's annual dividend per model share. A 4% starting yield on the $100 unit price means $4 per share for that year.
Dividend growth changes that per-share payment after each completed year. A positive rate is an assumption that payments grow; the calculator cannot establish that a company or fund will maintain it.
Price growth changes the reinvestment price and the value of the holding. The calculator spreads that annual rate across the selected periods. A higher price also means a dividend buys fewer new shares.
Annual contribution is deposited at the beginning of each modeled year, including the first. For a 10-year run, a $500 annual contribution means 10 deposits totaling $5,000, in addition to the starting principal. At zero years, no annual deposit occurs.
Frequency splits each year's dividend per share into equal annual, quarterly or monthly payments. Reinvestment happens at period end. Real distribution amounts and dates may differ.
What this estimate leaves out
The calculation assumes full reinvestment, fractional shares, no fees and no tax deduction. Amounts are nominal dollars: they have not been adjusted for inflation. Each cash dividend is rounded to cents before it buys more shares.
Price growth and dividend growth are independent assumptions here. The model does not reproduce ex-dividend price adjustments, a historical price series, actual payment dates or a broker's execution price. It is a scenario calculation, not a total-return backtest.
A larger final number can come from a larger deposit, a more generous assumption, or both. Change one input at a time to see which assumption is doing the work.
Save the assumptions with the result
The address updates with your inputs. Copying that address shares the numbers in the URL, so use example amounts when sharing publicly.
For income you intend to take as cash, use the dividend income calculator. To work through a ticker-labeled scenario with no additional deposits, use the SCHD calculator.
Sources and method
The worked examples were checked against Groverow's current calculation on 8 September 2026.
For how real dividend reinvestment plans work, including possible plan fees, see the SEC's Investor.gov explanation of direct investing. The calculator's no-fee assumption does not mean every real plan is free.
Estimates only. This tool does not recommend a stock, a fund or an investment decision.