- Purchase → valuation
- →
- Initial amount
- 100,000,000 KRW
- QQQ purchase close
- $119.09 / QQQ
- KRW 100 million after ten years
- 826,917,349 KRW
- Cumulative return
- 726.92%
- CAGR
- 23.53%
Both SPY and QQQ results use distribution-reinvested adjusted closes and KRW conversion. Personal taxes and trading or FX costs are excluded. The valuation date is September 22, 2026.
What would different investment amounts be worth?
The same adjusted-close return factor applies to each amount, with no additional contributions or withdrawals. The model assumes fractional exposure with reinvested dividends. Values round to the nearest KRW. Scroll tables sideways on small screens.
| Investment | Final value | Cumulative return | CAGR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000,000 KRW | 8,269,173 KRW | 726.92% | 23.53% |
| 10,000,000 KRW | 82,691,735 KRW | 726.92% | 23.53% |
| 50,000,000 KRW | 413,458,675 KRW | 726.92% | 23.53% |
| 100,000,000 KRW | 826,917,349 KRW | 726.92% | 23.53% |
How the KRW 100 million investment changed over ten years
Last monthly observations trace the KRW value of the initial investment. Look for periods of growth and large reversals alongside the ending value above.
Read annual chart values as a table
| Date | KRW value |
|---|---|
| 2016-09-22 | 100,000,000 KRW |
| 2016-12-29 | 110,358,945 KRW |
| 2017-12-28 | 129,241,145 KRW |
| 2018-12-28 | 132,590,692 KRW |
| 2019-12-30 | 192,217,077 KRW |
| 2020-12-30 | 268,199,511 KRW |
| 2021-12-30 | 377,262,306 KRW |
| 2022-12-29 | 269,024,516 KRW |
| 2023-12-28 | 425,922,188 KRW |
| 2024-12-30 | 613,960,302 KRW |
| 2025-12-30 | 724,767,883 KRW |
| 2026-09-22 | 826,917,349 KRW |
Why holding on for ten years was difficult
A high final return can make owning growth businesses look straightforward. During the holding period, however, an investor had to weigh confidence in those businesses against falling share prices, and then wait through recovery. What made that difficult?
Growing businesses can still have falling share prices
The largest observed daily USD total-return drawdown was 35.12%, from 2021-12-27 to 2022-11-03. Monthly KRW values can hide deeper daily declines.
Owning QQQ can express expectations for businesses such as cloud services and semiconductors. Believing in those businesses does not make a falling account easy to endure. Even when an investor expects higher future earnings, the price the market will pay for them can change. Business growth and share-price performance need to be examined separately.
QQQ’s issuer explains that investments concentrated in a sector can be more affected by market volatility than more broadly diversified investments. An ETF can hold many companies while concentrating exposure to similar growth expectations. The composition that attracted an investor can also make holding harder during a decline.
| Window | Peak | Trough | Drawdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-2019 | 2018-08-29 | 2018-12-24 | 22.79% |
| 2020-2020 | 2020-02-19 | 2020-03-16 | 28.56% |
| 2022-2023 | 2022-01-03 | 2022-11-03 | 34.83% |
The table separates the 2018 correction, the 2020 pandemic window and the 2022–2023 tightening period. The table compares observed declines within each stated period. The 2022–2023 row starts at a peak inside that window, unlike the full-period drawdown that starts in 2021. Selling near a trough would have produced a different outcome from this uninterrupted holding model.
Daily observations: 2513. The widest calendar gap runs from 2016-12-23 to 2016-12-27. A full exchange-calendar audit is incomplete; these are observed-close drawdowns, not certified full-history or intraday MDD. Missing FX is not filled, so no daily KRW MDD is reported.
The wait continues after the trough
In the stored observations, USD total return regained the December 27, 2021 peak on 2023-12-13, nearly two years later. This recovery date uses dividend-reinvested USD observations; it is not the recovery date of a KRW account or of every investor’s purchase cost.
A rebound can still leave an account below its old value. An investor could wonder whether to sell after a partial recovery, while other opportunities make waiting harder. A chart drawn later shows the recovery date. At the time, the length of that wait was unknown.
Return expectations need an allocation you can maintain
Strong gains can bring a desire to protect profits; sharp falls can bring fear of further losses. The larger the ETF’s share of an account, the greater its effect on living expenses and future investment plans. I believe investing in the Nasdaq-100 requires choosing an allocation you can maintain alongside the return you hope to earn.
Study QQQ’s major holdings and sector weights, and compare it with SPY when choosing your growth-company exposure. In a backtest, try entry dates before sharp falls, such as late 2021, as well as the start of a rally. Returns, drawdowns and recovery times together help bring the waiting behind a high final return into your investment plan.
Why did investors consider the Nasdaq-100 ten years ago?
The following investment case uses material published before the September 2016 purchase.
- Large businesses with room to grow. The January 2016 QQQ prospectus reported year-end 2015 index weights of 11.11% Apple, 8.39% Microsoft and 6.00% Amazon. Investors could favor established products and customers rather than unproven ideas. These were not purchase-date weights, and business size did not make a stock cheap.
- Cloud growth was becoming visible in operating results. Amazon’s Q2 2016 release reported 58% AWS revenue growth and rising operating income. Microsoft’s FY2016 Q4 release reported 102% Azure revenue growth. Those results supported a shift in business IT spending toward cloud services. Segment revenue growth was not the earnings growth rate of the entire index.
- Services and chips offered opportunities beyond handset sales. Apple’s fiscal Q3 2016 release reported 19% Services growth. NVIDIA’s August 2016 release described Pascal gaming demand and data-center products. Yet Apple’s total sales and net income declined in that quarter. Investors needed to distinguish mature products from new opportunities, rather than assume every technology business was growing rapidly.
- A basket reduced the need to select one winning stock. The prospectus described exposure to the index portfolio through one QQQ holding. That spread individual business risk, but left concentration in large companies with related growth expectations. Technology represented 54.53% of the index at year-end 2015; the prospectus explicitly warned of concentration. Long-term QQQ ownership was a deliberate exposure, not broad ownership of every part of the market.
Growth and investment returns were different questions. Paying a high price for future earnings could leave little upside even if the business delivered. Higher interest rates could reduce the present value assigned to distant profits. Valuation, technology concentration, volatility and currency were material risks. Business progress did not remove the need to assess the purchase price or the ability to stay invested through declines.
Did the original investment case hold up?
Later results support the expansion of cloud and services. Microsoft’s FY2025 release reported Azure annual revenue above USD 75 billion, up 34%. Apple’s FY2024 annual report recorded USD 96.169 billion in annual Services revenue. These are examples of parts of the earlier thesis becoming larger, recurring businesses.
NVIDIA’s FY2025 release reported USD 115.2 billion in annual Data Center revenue. GPU applications studied in 2016 later expanded into new demand from generative AI. QQQ performance combines earnings, dividends, valuation changes and index membership changes.
The basket still required tolerance for concentration. QQQ reflects index changes rather than a frozen 2016 portfolio. Its declines show that growing businesses can coexist with a sharply falling account value. FX also affects the KRW result. The hub’s QQQ value of 771,682,837 KRW, excluding all dividends, measures something different from this article’s 826,917,349 KRW.
How did QQQ compare with the S&P 500 over the same period?
Both rows use KRW 100 million, identical dates and FX, reinvested-distribution adjusted closes, and no personal taxes or trading costs. QQQ tracks the Nasdaq-100, not the Nasdaq Composite.
| ETF | Final value | Cumulative return | CAGR |
|---|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 ETF (SPY) | 513,023,055 KRW | 413.02% | 17.77% |
| QQQ | 826,917,349 KRW | 726.92% | 23.53% |
QQQ delivered a higher result in this interval. A narrower index and different sector weights make it a different exposure, however; these endpoint returns alone do not establish which portfolio had the better risk-adjusted result.
Read the S&P 500 ten-year investment result
Compare S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 portfolio construction
Comparison basis
The KRW results cover September 22, 2016 to September 22, 2026 without further contributions: dividends reinvested. Personal taxes, trading and FX costs, and inflation are excluded. Prices and same-record-date USD/KRW observations are combined.
Calculation details and source records
Calculation basis and data sources
The Nasdaq-100 covers large non-financial Nasdaq-listed companies, unlike the Nasdaq Composite. Since an index cannot be bought directly, this article uses QQQ, an ETF tracking it. Expenses, tracking differences and market-price deviations from NAV can make ETF and index returns differ. The result does not transfer directly to QQQM, Korean-listed or currency-hedged funds.
Purchase: September 22, 2016. Valuation: September 22, 2026. Data checked: September 28, 2026. This is not a live update. QQQ market closes were USD 119.09 → 747.46. Calculations use split- and dividend-adjusted closes of 111.1353016329 → 747.46. Adjusted closes are not historical execution prices.
The initial conversion uses 1103.3 KRW/USD, followed by the adjusted-close ratio and ending FX of 1356.5 KRW/USD. The higher KRW-per-dollar rate increased the KRW outcome. Monthly points use the last paired price/FX observation. Stored FX is not an executable or simultaneous quote; independent central-bank reconciliation is incomplete.
This pre-tax reinvestment approximation does not simulate payment-date purchases, withholding or cash-dividend accounts. It assumes fractional investment without contributions or withdrawals, excluding personal taxes, trading fees, FX spreads and inflation. Fund expenses already affect prices and are not deducted twice. SPY and QQQ reuse the same-vintage data obtained for the S&P 500 article on September 28, 2026. The hub’s endpoint cross-check is reused; the full daily series has not been checked against a second independent provider.
Formulas and rounding
Final value = principal ÷ starting FX × ending adjusted close ÷ starting adjusted close × ending FX. Cumulative return = (final value ÷ principal − 1) × 100. CAGR = ((final value ÷ principal)^(365.2425 / elapsed days) − 1) × 100.
Shared backtest precision: 24 significant digits for intermediate arithmetic, valuations rounded to two decimals, return percentages to six. Display uses whole KRW and two decimal places for percentages, HALF_UP. Drawdown magnitude = (1 − observed value ÷ preceding running peak) × 100.
Frequently asked questions
How much did KRW 100 million become?
2016-09-22 → 2026-09-22: 826,917,349 KRW. Pre-tax QQQ dividend-reinvestment model with FX, not a live quote.
Is this the return of the index or an ETF?
It uses QQQ market closes adjusted for reinvested distributions. The Nasdaq-100 is an index, not a security you can buy. QQQM and Korean-listed funds can produce different outcomes because of costs, tracking, currency hedging and tax treatment.
Why does the hub show a different value?
The hub shows 771,682,837 KRW excluding both cash dividends and reinvestment. The dates and FX are the same.
Would taking dividends in cash give the same result?
No. This adjusted-close model assumes reinvestment before personal taxes. It does not simulate payment-date purchases, withholding or cash-dividend balances.
What should I examine before choosing QQQ?
Compare QQQ and SPY across starting dates, including rallies and declines. Study the largest holdings alongside returns and drawdowns to consider the growth-stock exposure that fits your plan.
What would KRW 100 million invested ten years ago be worth across other assets?
Find a way to invest in growth businesses
I believe we should invest so our money can participate in business growth. QQQ offers ownership of a group of large Nasdaq companies. Our money should grow with us through investing. Study the holdings, large declines and time to recovery when choosing an allocation you can maintain for years.
Compare before choosing your investment
Compare QQQ and SPY over several investment periods. Examine both strong returns and large declines when deciding how much growth-stock exposure fits your plan.
Open investment backtestThis article presents the author’s investment opinion and historical observations. Returns and losses depend on the asset and investment period.