The Bureau of Historic Losses · Counterfactual Division
What if you'd bought iShares S&P 500 AUD (IVV) in 2008?
iShares' ASX-listed S&P 500 fund spent its first full year inside the Global Financial Crisis, halving alongside Wall Street. Buying America from Australia in 2008 felt like importing someone else's disaster — for about a year.
$100 on 2008-01-01, worth today
A$53
As of 2026-06-12, $100 of iShares S&P 500 AUD (IVV) bought at 2008's open (A$132.32) is worth A$53 — 0.53×.
total return · dividends reinvested · AUD
How much would $100 of iShares S&P 500 AUD (IVV) bought in 2008 be worth today?
| You'd have put in | You'd have now | Multiple |
|---|---|---|
| A$100 | A$53 | 0.53× |
| A$1,000 | A$529 | 0.53× |
| A$10,000 | A$5,295 | 0.53× |
Lump sum on the year's first trading day, total return (dividends reinvested, splits adjusted), valued at the latest close. Past performance isn't a promise — it's a taunt.
What did iShares S&P 500 AUD (IVV) do in 2008?
Opened
A$132.32
2008-01-01
Peaked
A$132.32
2008-01-01
Bottomed
A$98.79
2008-11-19
Closed
A$104.39
2008-12-30
Levels are dividend-adjusted, so historical figures look lower than the headline price of the day — that's the total-return lens, and it's the honest one.
Would steady buying have beaten going all in?
A$96,300 deployed as $100 a week from 2008-01-01, under four temperaments — same money, different nerves.
| All in on day one | A$50,988 |
| Steady weekly buys | A$340,877 |
| Sold dips, rebought rallies | A$234,264 |
| Traded it perfectly | A$6.7M |
“Traded it perfectly” requires knowing the future. Nobody knew the future.
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