The Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund Investor Shares (VBMFX) seeks to track the performance of the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index, which is a broad-based benchmark index that measures the investment grade, U.S. dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market. Here are the fund’s annual returns:
| 1987 | 1.54% |
| 1988 | 7.35% |
| 1989 | 13.64% |
| 1990 | 8.65% |
| 1991 | 15.25% |
| 1992 | 7.14% |
| 1993 | 9.68% |
| 1994 | -2.66% |
| 1995 | 18.18% |
| 1996 | 3.58% |
| 1997 | 9.44% |
| 1998 | 8.58% |
| 1999 | -0.76% |
| 2000 | 11.39% |
| 2001 | 8.43% |
| 2002 | 8.26% |
| 2003 | 3.97% |
| 2004 | 4.24% |
| 2005 | 2.40% |
| 2006 | 4.27% |
| 2007 | 6.92% |
| 2008 | 5.05% |
| 2009 | 5.93% |
| 2010 | 6.42% |
| 2011 | 7.56% |
| 2012 | 4.05% |
| 2013 | -2.26% |
| 2014 | 5.76% |
| 2015 | 0.30% |
| 2016 | 2.50% |
| 2017 | 3.46% |
| 2018 | -0.13% |
| 2019 | 8.61% |
| 2020 | 7.61% |
| 2021 | -1.77% |
| 2022 | -13.25% |
| 2023 | 5.60% |
| 2024 | 1.14% |
| 2025 | 7.03% |
Combining all of the returns above, over the past 39 years, from 1987 to 2025, the fund has grown at an average rate of 5.06% each year.
So, if you invested $1,000 at the start of 1987 and simply held on to your investment, here’s how your money would’ve grown over the years:
| 1987 | $1,015 |
| 1988 | $1,090 |
| 1989 | $1,239 |
| 1990 | $1,346 |
| 1991 | $1,551 |
| 1992 | $1,662 |
| 1993 | $1,823 |
| 1994 | $1,774 |
| 1995 | $2,097 |
| 1996 | $2,172 |
| 1997 | $2,377 |
| 1998 | $2,581 |
| 1999 | $2,561 |
| 2000 | $2,853 |
| 2001 | $3,093 |
| 2002 | $3,349 |
| 2003 | $3,482 |
| 2004 | $3,630 |
| 2005 | $3,717 |
| 2006 | $3,875 |
| 2007 | $4,144 |
| 2008 | $4,353 |
| 2009 | $4,611 |
| 2010 | $4,907 |
| 2011 | $5,278 |
| 2012 | $5,492 |
| 2013 | $5,367 |
| 2014 | $5,677 |
| 2015 | $5,694 |
| 2016 | $5,836 |
| 2017 | $6,038 |
| 2018 | $6,030 |
| 2019 | $6,549 |
| 2020 | $7,048 |
| 2021 | $6,923 |
| 2022 | $6,006 |
| 2023 | $6,342 |
| 2024 | $6,414 |
| 2025 | $6,865 |
As you can see, if you invested $1,000 at the start of 1987 and simply held on to your investment, you would’ve ended up with $6,865 at the end of 2025.