The Bureau of Historic Losses · Counterfactual Division
What if you'd bought Vanguard Diversified High Growth (VDHG) in 2018?
Vanguard's one-ticker, set-and-forget growth fund arrived just in time for a jittery 2018 of trade-war headlines and a December sell-off. The 'never rebalance again' portfolio was about to prove its case over the following years.
$100 on 2018-01-01, worth today
A$219
As of 2026-06-12, $100 of Vanguard Diversified High Growth (VDHG) bought at 2018's open (A$34.78) is worth A$219 — 2.19×.
total return · dividends reinvested · AUD
How much would $100 of Vanguard Diversified High Growth (VDHG) bought in 2018 be worth today?
| You'd have put in | You'd have now | Multiple |
|---|---|---|
| A$100 | A$219 | 2.19× |
| A$1,000 | A$2,191 | 2.19× |
| A$10,000 | A$21,907 | 2.19× |
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 Vanguard Diversified High Growth (VDHG) do in 2018?
Opened
A$34.78
2018-01-01
Peaked
A$37.82
2018-08-30
Bottomed
A$33.31
2018-12-23
Closed
A$34.08
2018-12-30
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$44,100 deployed as $100 a week from 2018-01-01, under four temperaments — same money, different nerves.
| All in on day one | A$96,610 |
| Steady weekly buys | A$70,045 |
| Sold dips, rebought rallies | A$67,699 |
| Traded it perfectly | A$70,457 |
“Traded it perfectly” requires knowing the future. Nobody knew the future.
These were the round numbers. Run your real ones.
Your amount, your date, your certificate. Takes about a minute.
Calculate my failureor every Vanguard Diversified High Growth (VDHG) year on file →
Adjacent timelines