Pure Benchmarks · Hypotheticals
What If You Had Invested in Index Funds Instead?
DALBAR's 40-year Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior confirms the average actively managed retail portfolio underperforms a simple index strategy by hundreds of thousands of dollars in terminal wealth over a 20 to 30 year investment horizon. Pure Benchmarks Hypotheticals models exactly what your specific portfolio would be worth today if you had held a pure index allocation instead, and compares that outcome to thousands of real verified investors in the same risk category who made that same choice — giving you the first real data-driven answer to the question every managed account investor asks eventually.
What the data shows about active management versus index investing over time
DALBAR's 40-year analysis finds that investor behavior and layered costs, not fund selection, drive most of the shortfall of active portfolios against a simple index strategy over long horizons.
How Hypotheticals models this for your real portfolio history
Hypotheticals reconstructs what your specific portfolio would be worth today under a pure index allocation, using your real connected history rather than a hypothetical starting point.
What the comparison reveals about your specific situation
You see your actual gap, in dollars, against real verified investors in your risk category who held an index allocation through the same market.
Your current platform won't show you how your portfolio ranks against real investors in the same risk category. Create your secure Pure Benchmarks account and see exactly where you stand.
See Your Free Benchmark ReportFrequently asked questions
Would I have more money in index funds?
It depends on your holdings and history. Hypotheticals calculates the exact figure for your real portfolio and compares it to real peers who held an index allocation.
Is this an active versus passive calculator?
It is more than a generic calculator — it uses your real portfolio history and compares the index outcome to thousands of verified peers in your risk category.
Does Pure Benchmarks tell me to buy index funds?
No. It provides an information baseline for comparison only and does not recommend any specific investment.
Keep exploring
- The Hypothetical Portfolio Simulator Built on Real Peer Data
- What If You Had Not Sold During the Market Crash?
- What If You Had Switched Financial Advisors?
- The Cost of Panic Selling Calculator Built on Real Peer Data
See where a specific firm's portfolios stand:
New here? Read the portfolio benchmarking FAQ or the Pure Benchmarks blog.
This page is an information baseline for comparison only. It is not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy, sell, replace, or transfer any specific asset, account, or firm. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All figures shown are illustrative.