$100 a month in five dividend stocks for 30 years: $210,922 reinvesting, and still behind the S&P 500

Take five companies from five different sectors that have paid dividends for the past 30 years: Illinois Tool Works (industrials), Colgate-Palmolive (consumer staples), Johnson & Johnson (health care), T. Rowe Price (asset management) and American Electric Power (utilities). Put $20 a month into each, $100 in total, at the last close of every month from October 1996 to September 2026. That is 360 contributions and $36,000.

At the October 30, 2026 close, the portfolio was worth $210,922 with every dividend reinvested in more shares, and $156,295 with the dividends kept in cash instead — $120,309 in shares plus $35,986 of dividends that were never put back to work. Reinvesting added $54,627, or 35%.

One dividend cut, three special dividends

American Electric Power is the only one of the five that cut its regular dividend in the period: its quarterly payment fell from $0.60 to $0.35 in 2003, and the company’s 2003 annual report says it “reduced our quarterly dividend in June 2003 to $.35 per share.” AEP still gained the most from reinvesting, 59%, and its $7,200 became $41,690. T. Rowe Price paid three special dividends on top of its regular ones — $1.00 in December 2012, $2.00 in 2015 and $3.00 in 2021 — which is why it has the largest cash pile, $10,791, in the version that does not reinvest.

The crisis, and the milestones

With dividends reinvested, the portfolio fell 38.9% from its October 2007 peak to February 2009. Even then it was worth more than the money put in, as it was at every month-end of the 30 years, in both versions. Reinvesting, it passed $100,000 in November 2017 and $200,000 in February 2026. Without reinvesting, it passed $100,000 in January 2020 and has not reached $200,000.

The income it pays now

Over the last twelve months the five stocks paid $5,818 in dividends to the reinvesting version — about $485 a month, or 16.2% a year on the $36,000 contributed — and $3,308 to the version that kept its dividends in cash, about $275 a month.

Against the S&P 500

The same $100 a month in the S&P 500 (the SPY ETF) would be worth $240,728 with dividends reinvested and $190,573 without. With reinvesting, the mini portfolio was ahead of the index at 303 of the 361 month-ends and led continuously from November 2000 to April 2024. The index moved ahead in May 2024 and has stayed there: on October 30, 2026 it was 14.1% higher. Without reinvesting, the mini portfolio is also behind.

One correction to the price data, checked against SEC filings: Illinois Tool Works’ dividend with an ex-date of June 28, 2006 appears as $0.33 in the price history, the amount from before the 2-for-1 split of May 2006. The company’s 2006 annual report gives cash dividends declared of $0.75 a share for the year, so the payment was counted as $0.165.

The figures are before taxes and trading costs, which would lower the result, especially for dividends taxed every year. The five stocks were chosen knowing they had paid dividends for 30 years, which the investor in 1996 could not know. This is a description of what happened, not a forecast and not investment advice.