DRIP Calculator

Project long-term dividend reinvestment from one starting investment, showing ending value, share-count growth, and forward income.

Project how reinvested dividends can add shares over time This DRIP model starts with one initial investment, reinvests every cash dividend into new shares at the prevailing share price, and then tracks how the ending value and annual income change as both dividends and price grow.

Initial investment ($)

Starting share price ($) Projection length (years)

Dividend yield (%) Dividend growth (annual %)

Share-price growth assumption (annual %) Dividend payment frequency

Display currency

Switch displayed values without changing the share-count or reinvestment maths.

Currency

Result

$31,567.63

Projected ending value after 15 years of reinvesting dividends from an initial $10,000.00 position.

Dividend reinvestment grows the share count Reinvesting modeled cash dividends adds 167.3 shares on top of the original 222.22 shares.

Ending shares: 389.52
Ending share price: $81.04
Reinvested dividends: $10,549.91
Yield on cost: 12.75%

Total return

$21,567.63

215.68% on the original capital.

Forward annual dividend income

$1,275.41

The final-year annualized dividend income implied by the ending share count and dividend growth assumption.

How to read this projection

This estimate assumes every cash dividend is reinvested immediately, no taxes or dealing costs reduce the reinvestment, and the yield, dividend-growth rate, and share-price growth follow one constant path for the full projection.

Dividend Reinvestment

DRIP calculator guide: reinvested dividends, growing share count, and forward income

A DRIP calculator projects what can happen when cash dividends are automatically reinvested into additional shares instead of being taken as income. The result is a combined compounding path: shares can grow because new shares are purchased with each dividend, while price and dividend growth assumptions can raise the value and income generated by the larger share count.

About this calculator

Reviewed 2026-03-21

Methodology

Converts the initial investment into starting shares, applies one dividend payment per selected period, reinvests that dividend into additional shares at the current share price, and updates dividend and price assumptions period by period across the chosen projection horizon.

Limitations

Assumes one constant starting dividend yield, one constant dividend-growth rate, and one constant share-price-growth rate throughout the full projection.
Does not include taxes, plan fees, spread costs, withholding, dividend suspensions, or company-specific DRIP rules.
Treats every dividend as fully reinvested immediately at the modeled share price.
This is a planning estimate only and not a forecast of actual security performance or future dividend policy.

Disclaimer

Use this DRIP projection as an educational estimate only. Before relying on it, review the actual dividend policy, plan rules, fees, and tax treatment that apply to the investment you are considering.

Sources

FINRA — Stocks — High-trust investor overview of stocks, direct stock purchase plans, and dividend reinvestment plans.
FINRA — Cost basis basics — High-trust investor guidance supporting the treatment of reinvested dividends and trading costs in the running investment basis.
FINRA — Evaluating performance — High-trust investor guidance on total return, dividend income, and long-run performance framing.

See our calculation methodology and editorial standards for how this estimate is produced.

What a DRIP is actually doing

A dividend reinvestment plan, or DRIP, uses each cash dividend payment to buy more shares of the same security instead of distributing the cash to the investor. Once that happens, future dividends are paid on a slightly larger share count, which is why reinvestment can create a snowball effect over long holding periods.

That snowball only works when the underlying company or fund continues paying dividends and when the reinvestment cost does not consume too much of the cash flow. A DRIP projection is therefore best understood as a planning model for long-horizon income growth, not as a promise that any one stock will continue paying or increasing dividends indefinitely.

The core maths behind dividend reinvestment

The model starts with an initial investment divided by the starting share price to find the opening share count. Each dividend period then pays cash equal to shares held multiplied by the dividend per share for that period. That cash is immediately used to buy additional shares at the prevailing share price.

Because both the share price and the dividend can change over time, the projection keeps updating those assumptions period by period. The ending value reflects the final share count multiplied by the ending share price, while forward annual income reflects the final share count multiplied by the final annualized dividend per share.

Opening shares = Initial investment / Starting share price

Converts the initial cash amount into the starting number of shares held.

Shares bought from each dividend = Cash dividend / Current share price

Uses each dividend payment to purchase additional shares under the reinvestment assumption.

Ending value = Ending shares x Ending share price

Measures the final projected position value after all dividend reinvestment and price growth assumptions.

Worked example: 10,000 invested with quarterly reinvestment

Suppose 10,000 is invested at a starting share price of 45 with a 3.5% dividend yield, 5% annual dividend growth, 4% annual share-price growth, and quarterly reinvestment over 15 years. The projection shows not only the ending value, but also how many additional shares the reinvested dividends bought and how much forward annual dividend income the larger share count may be generating by the end.

That split matters. Two DRIP scenarios can produce similar ending values while having very different income profiles if one assumption set relies more heavily on dividend growth and the other relies more heavily on price appreciation.

What this DRIP projection does not cover

Real DRIP plans can involve taxes, partial-share rules, delays between record date and reinvestment date, plan fees, withholding, dividend cuts, and price volatility that a simple projection cannot reproduce. Some plans also allow optional cash purchases, while others have narrower rules around purchases and sales.

Use the result as a disciplined planning estimate only. If you are evaluating a real company DRIP or brokerage reinvestment feature, compare this simplified projection with the plan documents, trading costs, and the company’s actual dividend policy.

DRIP Calculator

$31,567.63

DRIP calculator guide: reinvested dividends, growing share count, and forward income

What a DRIP is actually doing

The core maths behind dividend reinvestment

Worked example: 10,000 invested with quarterly reinvestment

What this DRIP projection does not cover

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