Metric<\/th>	Bank Deposit<\/th>	JPM Shares<\/th><\/tr>\n <\/thead>\n
Own contributions<\/td>	12,000 USD<\/td>	12,000 USD<\/td><\/tr>\n
Final value<\/td>	12,538 USD<\/td>	37,238 USD<\/td><\/tr>\n
Gain above own contributions<\/td>	538 USD<\/td>	25,238 USD<\/td><\/tr>\n
Dividends paid<\/td>	—<\/td>	≈2,322 USD<\/td><\/tr>\n
Number of shares<\/td>	—<\/td>	≈104.6 JPM<\/td><\/tr>\n <\/tbody>\n <\/table>\n <\/div>\n\n Two different numbers describe that gap, and it is worth keeping them apart. The portfolio's 37,238 USD sits 24,700 USD above the deposit's 12,538 USD: that is what one strategy beat the other by. Measured against the 12,000 USD both sides actually put in, the portfolio's gain is 25,238 USD, against a 538 USD gain for the deposit. Same ten years, same money, two ways of stating a result that was never close.<\/p>\n\n $\"Deposit$ <\/a> The deposit balance and the stock portfolio value over the same ten years, from the same 100 USD monthly contribution. Source: JPMorgan Chase annual reports, JPM dividend history, historical JPM price data.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n The calculation is based on actual JPM stock prices, not adjusted for dividends, which are tracked and reinvested separately in the numbers above. Where 1 September fell on a weekend or a stock market holiday, the opening price of the next trading day was used instead.<\/p>\n\n \n \n Ten Years, Year by Year<\/div>\n Move the slider through the saver's and the investor's ten years. Both ways of measuring the stock portfolio's lead, above the deposit and above the money actually put in, are shown at every stop.<\/div>\n\n \n \n Bank deposit<\/div>\n <\/div><\/div>\n 0 USD<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n JPM portfolio<\/div>\n <\/div><\/div>\n 0 USD<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n ↔ Drag the marker through all ten years<\/div>\n Checkpoint<\/label>\n \n \n \n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n Year 1<\/span>Year 10<\/span>\n <\/div>\n\n \n Own contributions<\/div> 0<\/div><\/div>\n Shares owned<\/div> 0<\/div><\/div>\n Portfolio above deposit<\/div> 0<\/div><\/div>\n Portfolio above own contributions<\/div> 0<\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n One year in, the portfolio is already worth more than the deposit, even though both hold the same amount of the reader's own money.<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

\n \n

Both bank and the stock are the same company: a JPMorgan Chase savings deposit on one side, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE<\/a>: JPM) shares on the other. Same JPMorgan Chase, same 100 USD every month, same ten years. The only thing that changes is what the money buys.<\/p>\n\n

The final portfolio, 37,238 USD, is very nearly three times the deposit's final balance.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <\/div>\n\n
<\/span>The Same Bank, Two Very Different Bets<\/span><\/h2>\n\n
Free money can always be spent. It can also be set aside, and what happens next depends entirely on where it goes. This test follows two versions of the same decision, both starting on 1 September 2016 and both ending on 1 September 2026, ten years and 120 monthly contributions of 100 USD apart.<\/p>\n\n
The saver sends every 100 USD to a JPMorgan Chase deposit and lets the interest reinvest itself, month after month. The investor spends the same 100 USD on fractional shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and reinvests every dividend into more shares, a discipline known as dollar-cost averaging: buying on the same schedule every month, whatever the price happens to be doing that month.<\/p>\n\n
By the end of the decade, both have put in exactly the same amount from their own pocket: 12,000 USD. Taxes, banking and brokerage fees, and inflation<\/a> are left out on both sides, so what follows is the gap<\/a> between the two strategies under identical conditions, not a net figure either of them would actually keep after costs.<\/p>\n\n
\n
\n
JPM Trades on MT5 at RoboForex<\/div>\n
Open the platform and see the current JPMorgan Chase & Co. price for yourself.<\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n Open MT5<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
<\/span>What JPMorgan’s Savings Rate Actually Paid, Year by Year<\/span><\/h2>\n\n
The deposit's fate was decided almost entirely by one number: JPMorgan Chase's own average Savings rate for its US accounts. For most of the decade, that number was close to nothing.<\/p>\n\n
In 2016 the rate was 0.09% a year. It crept up to 0.15% in 2017 and 0.32% in 2018, reached 0.46% in 2019, then fell back to 0.13% in 2020 and 0.06% in 2021 as US interest rates dropped. A new hiking cycle then lifted it: 0.28% in 2022, 1.10% in 2023, 1.39% in 2024, 1.41% in 2025, and around 1.27% through the first half of 2026.<\/p>\n\n
$\"JPMorgan$ <\/a>
JPMorgan Chase's average Savings rate, 2016 to 2026. The 2026 bar covers the first half of the year only, not a full year. Source: JPMorgan Financial Statements.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
Even with every cent of interest reinvested, a rate that spent most of a decade under 1% had very little to work with. The deposit was never going to be the side of this test that surprised anyone.<\/p>\n\n
<\/span>The First 100 USD: 1.49 Shares of JPMorgan<\/span><\/h2>\n\n
On 1 September 2016, JPM shares closed at 67.21 USD. The investor's first 100 USD bought about 1.49 shares.<\/p>\n\n
$\"JPMorgan$ <\/a>
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) share price, September 2016 to September 2026. The line marks the trend across the full period; it shows history that has already happened, not a forecast. Source: MT5.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
From there, the same 100 USD goes to JPM every month, whether that month's price is up or down. That single rule is what turns a falling market from a threat into an opportunity: a lower price buys more shares with the same 100 USD, and every one of those shares later collects its own dividend.<\/p>\n\n
JPMorgan paid 0.48 USD per share each quarter in October 2016. The bank raised that payout repeatedly over the decade, to 1 USD per share by 2022 and 1.50 USD per share by mid-2026. Every dividend goes straight back into more JPM shares, and those new shares start earning dividends of their own.<\/p>\n\n
<\/span>One Year Later, the Investor Is Already Ahead<\/span><\/h2>\n\n
By the end of August 2017, each side had received 1,200 USD.<\/p>\n\n
The deposit, interest included, held 1,201 USD. The stock portfolio held 14.6 JPM shares worth 1,324 USD.<\/p>\n\n
One year in, with the same money and the same starting point, the investor was already 123 USD ahead. The gap was only going to widen from here, through two of the sharpest drops JPM saw in the whole decade.<\/p>\n\n
<\/span>The 2020 Test: the Lead Survives a 30% Drop<\/span><\/h2>\n\n
JPM traded above 130 USD in early 2020. By the end of March, in the pandemic crash, it had fallen to 90 USD, a drop of roughly 30%.<\/p>\n\n
For a portfolio built up over four years, that kind of drop was not trivial. By August 2020 the investor had contributed 4,800 USD, owned 50.7 JPM shares, and the portfolio was worth 5,082 USD. The deposit, over the same four years, held 4,829 USD.<\/p>\n\n
Even after one of the sharpest drops in JPM's history, the stock portfolio was still ahead of the deposit. The crash also did something for the portfolio a calm market never could: at 130 USD, the monthly 100 USD bought 0.8 of a share; at 90 USD, it bought 1.1 shares. Every month the price stayed down, the investor quietly picked up shares faster.<\/p>\n\n
<\/span>The 2022 Test: a Second Correction, the Same Result<\/span><\/h2>\n\n
Two years later, JPM dropped again, this time by 34%, from 158 USD in December 2021 to 104 USD by September 2022.<\/p>\n\n
By the end of year six, the deposit held 7,247 USD on 7,200 USD contributed. The investor's 71.9 shares, priced at the lower level, were worth 8,181 USD.<\/p>\n\n
The pattern repeats. A second sharp correction, and the portfolio's lead over the deposit does not shrink, it grows: from 123 USD after year one to 934 USD after year six.<\/p>\n\n
<\/span>Ten Years Later: the Final Numbers<\/span><\/h2>\n\n
After the last monthly contribution in August 2026, both sides had received exactly the same 12,000 USD from their own pocket. What each side turned that into is where the story lands.<\/p>\n\n
The deposit ends at 12,538 USD. Ten years of interest, most of it earned at a rate under 1%, added 538 USD.<\/p>\n\n
The stock portfolio ends at 37,238 USD: 104.6 JPM shares, worth 356 USD each on 1 September 2026, built from 12,000 USD of contributions and 2,322 USD of reinvested dividends.<\/p>\n\n
\n \n \n \n
Metric<\/th> Bank Deposit<\/th> JPM Shares<\/th><\/tr>\n <\/thead>\n
Own contributions<\/td> 12,000 USD<\/td> 12,000 USD<\/td><\/tr>\n
Final value<\/td> 12,538 USD<\/td> 37,238 USD<\/td><\/tr>\n
Gain above own contributions<\/td> 538 USD<\/td> 25,238 USD<\/td><\/tr>\n
Dividends paid<\/td> —<\/td> ≈2,322 USD<\/td><\/tr>\n
Number of shares<\/td> —<\/td> ≈104.6 JPM<\/td><\/tr>\n <\/tbody>\n <\/table>\n <\/div>\n\n
Two different numbers describe that gap, and it is worth keeping them apart. The portfolio's 37,238 USD sits 24,700 USD above the deposit's 12,538 USD: that is what one strategy beat the other by. Measured against the 12,000 USD both sides actually put in, the portfolio's gain is 25,238 USD, against a 538 USD gain for the deposit. Same ten years, same money, two ways of stating a result that was never close.<\/p>\n\n
$\"Deposit$ <\/a>
The deposit balance and the stock portfolio value over the same ten years, from the same 100 USD monthly contribution. Source: JPMorgan Chase annual reports, JPM dividend history, historical JPM price data.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
The calculation is based on actual JPM stock prices, not adjusted for dividends, which are tracked and reinvested separately in the numbers above. Where 1 September fell on a weekend or a stock market holiday, the opening price of the next trading day was used instead.<\/p>\n\n \n
\n
Ten Years, Year by Year<\/div>\n
Move the slider through the saver's and the investor's ten years. Both ways of measuring the stock portfolio's lead, above the deposit and above the money actually put in, are shown at every stop.<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
Bank deposit<\/div>\n
<\/div><\/div>\n
0 USD<\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n
JPM portfolio<\/div>\n
<\/div><\/div>\n
0 USD<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
↔ Drag the marker through all ten years<\/div>\n Checkpoint<\/label>\n
\n \n
\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n Year 1<\/span>Year 10<\/span>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n
Own contributions<\/div>
0<\/div><\/div>\n
Shares owned<\/div>
0<\/div><\/div>\n
Portfolio above deposit<\/div>
0<\/div><\/div>\n
Portfolio above own contributions<\/div>
0<\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
One year in, the portfolio is already worth more than the deposit, even though both hold the same amount of the reader's own money.<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n