This data is based on the returns of the S&P 500 index, which is made up of the 500 largest publicly traded companies in the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S

This data is based on the returns of the S&P 500 index, which is made up of the 500 largest publicly traded companies in the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%26P_500 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%26P_500 Adjusting for reinvested dividends refers to an assumption that the cash dividends paid out by a company are re-invested to buy more shares of the stock. The concept being that a company can pay out a cash dividend or use that money to invest / grow their business. Therefore, to calculate a "total return" we need to factor in the price increases of a stock + the dividends that were paid by the company.