What $10k invested in 8 major indices in 2011 would be worth today

Got curious how much the specific flavor of index funds actually matters over a medium time horizon, so I dumped a hypothetical $10k into eight of them and tracked it from 2011 to now. Total return, dividends reinvested, everything starting at the same $10k so it’s an even fight. I started in 2011 because that’s when VXUS (total international) launched and I didn’t want to leave it out. Where the $10k ended up, as of last week: **NASDAQ 100 (QQQ)**: \~$153k **S&P 500**: \~$78k **VTI (total US market)**: \~$74k **Dow**: \~$62k **S&P MidCap 400**: \~$51k **Russell 2000 (small cap)**: \~$43k **VXUS (international)**: \~$27k **US Aggregate bonds**: \~$14k A few things that stuck out: QQQ ate everyone’s lunch. It nearly doubled the S&P’s result. That’s the whole AI/megacap-tech decade showing up in a single line. VTI and the S&P have been the same fund for all practical purposes. They sit right on top of each other the whole way. VTI throws mid and small caps into the mix but those lagged, so it actually landed a hair behind the plain S&P. The “VTI is more diversified” argument barely moved the needle this stretch. If you’ve owned one you really didn’t need the other. Small caps were largely a letdown, but are starting to surge (more on this later). Bonds are rough. $10k became about $14k over fifteen years, which is almost the exact same growth as inflation in that time. That said, bonds are made so you don’t have to white-knuckle a 30% drawdown in the market, which is a real thing worth paying for depending on your risk tolerance. Still, seeing it drawn to scale kind of stings. Plus bonds weren’t even all that peaceful the whole way. 2022 was the worst year in the history of the agg index (down around 13%) when the Fed went scorched-earth on rates. Anyway, the part that actually got me to post is that 2026 is behaving somewhat differently so far. A bunch of the stuff that got left for dead is out front: small caps +14.7% YTD, mid caps around +11.5%, international +12.2%, all beating the S&P at roughly +8.8%. QQQs still at the top (+17.5%) but it’s been a rollercoaster, up around 21% in early June before coughing a chunk back. Bonds are slightly red. The thing I think I find most interesting is the small and mid cap movement. International looks great, but like QQQ is largely being driven by the AI trade. Small and mid cap, on the other hand, are made up of 21% industrials, 16% financials, and 14% healthcare, with tech only making up around 12%. So the whole small-and-mid chunk of the market is basically banks and industrials and boring domestic stuff. Obviously you have to assume AI is positively influencing these industries in one way or another, but it’s hard to know exactly how at this point in time. Will be interesting to see where things go from here. Happy trading. **EDIT**: A graph showing the year end growth of each index from 2011-2026: [https://postimg.cc/KkT8qPcM](https://postimg.cc/KkT8qPcM)