If You’d Dropped $1,000 on TD Stock 5 Years Ago, Here’s the Life-Changing (or Not) Result
TD Bank investors just got a brutal math lesson—here's what your $1K would've done.
The cold hard numbers
Five years. One grand. Zero emotional attachment to a faceless financial institution. Let's run the tape.
The 'what if' fantasy
Every finance bro's favorite party trick—backtesting with perfect hindsight. Spoiler: past performance guarantees nothing except regret.
The reality check
Traditional banks move at geological speeds while crypto eats their lunch. But hey, at least TD's vaults don't get hacked... often.
Final verdict? That $1,000 either grew steadily or got wrecked—depending on whether you picked stocks or Bitcoin in 2020. The market doesn't care about your feelings.
Image source: Getty Images.
Total return and investment sum
Toronto-Dominion Bank's stock gained 63.8% over the last five years through Aug. 1. However, that doesn't include dividends. When factoring in those payouts, the stock had a total return of 103%.
That means your $1,000 investment would have more than doubled in five years. Applying the 103% return to your initial $1,000 investment equals $2,030.
This sounds impressive. After all, who wouldn't want to double their money in five years? You can grow your wealth pretty quickly at that rate. But it's important to put that return in context.
Comparison
One way to do that is by comparing the stock's return to a broad index and a bank stock index. That's the return you could have gotten if you'd invested passively over those five years.
Theindex produced a total return of 105.6%, and theindex returned an even better 149.8%. Both bested Toronto-Dominion Bank's return.
If you'd invested the $1,000 in the S&P 500, you'd have $2,056 today. Before fees, an exchange-traded fund or mutual fund investing in the bank index would have grown your investment to $2,498.
Of course, past returns provide no guarantee about future results. However, it's a useful exercise to see how a stock investment would have fared in the context of the broader market and sector. In this case, Toronto-Dominion Bank's stock didn't perform as well.
