VAS · VGS · IVV · A200 · VHY · NDQ · IOZ · VDHG · DHHF · GOLD · QAU · verified 5-yr return after fees
Assumptions used: Vanguard VAS returns 7.43% a year (its 5-year return after fees, to 30 Sep 2026) every year for 20 years. $10,000 to start and $1,000 a month, added at the end of each month. Any distributions reinvested, no tax or brokerage taken off. Today’s dollars use 2.5% inflation a year.
Nominal balance at each anniversary. The dashed line is what you have put in.
Cumulative contributions, gains and balance at each anniversary.
| Year | Contributions to date | Gains to date | Balance (nominal) | Real value |
|---|
Returns sourced from each provider’s most recent published fact sheet and checked against a second source. Year-stamped. Returns are after fees, as each provider publishes them.
| Ticker | Index | 5-yr avg return | 10-yr avg return | Annual fee | 12-month yield | Franking | As at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VAS Vanguard VAS | S&P/ASX 300 | 7.43% | 8.95% | 0.07% | 3.21% | 79.6% | 30 Sep 2026 |
| VGS Vanguard VGS | MSCI World ex-Australia | 12.87% | 14.06% | 0.18% | 1.38% | none | 30 Sep 2026 |
| IVV iShares IVV | S&P 500 (AU-domiciled) | 14.38% | Not available* | 0.04% | 1.25% | none | 30 Sep 2026 |
| A200 Betashares A200 | Solactive Australia 200 | 7.82% | Not available* | 0.04% | 3.30% | 71.1% | 30 Sep 2026 |
| VHY Vanguard VHY | FTSE ASFA Australia High Dividend Yield | 11.91% | 10.22% | 0.25% | 4.13% | 89.4% | 30 Sep 2026 |
| NDQ Betashares NDQ | NASDAQ-100 | 16.74% | 21.57% | 0.48% | 1.40% | none | 30 Sep 2026 |
| IOZ iShares IOZ | S&P/ASX 200 | 7.61% | Not available* | 0.05% | 3.40% | not published | 30 Sep 2026 |
| VDHG Vanguard VDHG | Diversified High Growth (90/10) | 8.84% | Not available* | 0.27% | 3.73% | not published | 30 Sep 2026 |
| DHHF Betashares DHHF | Diversified All Growth (100% equities) | 10.14% | Not available* | 0.19% | 2.00% | not published | 30 Sep 2026 |
| GOLD Global X GOLD | Gold price in Australian dollars (unhedged) | 19.50% | 12.80% | 0.40% | none | none | 30 Sep 2026 |
| QAU Betashares QAU | Gold price, currency hedged | 16.92% | 10.08% | 0.59% | 5.30% | none | 30 Sep 2026 |
*IVV (AU-domiciled since 7 Sep 2018), A200 (inception 7 May 2018), VDHG (20 Nov 2017) and DHHF (15 Dec 2020) are under 10 years old — 10-year data not yet available; BlackRock’s September 2026 fact sheet does not publish a 10-year figure for IOZ. “Not published” franking: VDHG and DHHF are partly franked through their Australian-shares sleeve and IOZ reports franking per distribution only, so no fund-level figure exists and none is modelled. Yield is each provider’s 12-month cash distribution figure excluding franking credits: Vanguard’s 1-year income return (distributions ÷ starting NAV), Betashares’ and BlackRock’s 12-month distribution yield (÷ ending price). Global X publishes GOLD’s returns to one decimal place (19.5% and 12.8%). Sources: Vanguard Australia, BlackRock iShares Australia, Betashares and Global X Australia fact sheets and product pages, 30 Sep 2026. Second reading of every 5-year return: InvestSMART, except GOLD, which was checked against ASX closing prices for 30 Sep 2021 and 30 Sep 2026.
Annual cash distributions at each fund’s trailing 12-month yield, before tax and before franking credits. The projection above ignores this income by reinvesting it; use this table when the question is “how much does it pay?”
| Ticker | 12-month yield | $10,000 | $50,000 | $100,000 | Franking credits on $100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VAS Vanguard VAS | 3.21% | $321 | $1,605 | $3,210 | about $1,095 |
| VGS Vanguard VGS | 1.38% | $138 | $690 | $1,380 | none |
| IVV iShares IVV | 1.25% | $125 | $625 | $1,250 | none |
| A200 Betashares A200 | 3.30% | $330 | $1,650 | $3,300 | about $1,006 |
| VHY Vanguard VHY | 4.13% | $413 | $2,065 | $4,130 | about $1,582 |
| NDQ Betashares NDQ | 1.40% | $140 | $700 | $1,400 | none |
| IOZ iShares IOZ | 3.40% | $340 | $1,700 | $3,400 | partly franked, not published |
| VDHG Vanguard VDHG | 3.73% | $373 | $1,865 | $3,730 | partly franked, not published |
| DHHF Betashares DHHF | 2.00% | $200 | $1,000 | $2,000 | partly franked, not published |
| GOLD Global X GOLD | pays no distributions | – | – | – | none |
| QAU Betashares QAU | 5.30% | $530 | $2,650 | $5,300 | none |
Yield = trailing 12-month cash distributions divided by unit price, as published by each provider at the as-at date in the table above; it excludes franking credits and moves with both distributions and price. Franking credits are shown at the fund’s published franking level grossed up at the 30% company rate, and are refundable or usable as an offset depending on your marginal tax rate. Distributions are paid quarterly unless the fund notes otherwise. Gold itself pays no income: GOLD pays no distributions, and QAU’s is paid once a year and varies from year to year.
VAS tracks the S&P/ASX 300, so a projection here is effectively a projection of the broad Australian market. Its 5-year return of 7.43% after the 0.07% fee is the lowest of the nine share ETFs, but its 12-month income yield of 3.21% came 79.6% franked, which the headline return does not capture. On $100,000 that is about $3,210 a year of cash and roughly $1,100 of franking credits. If you hold VAS in a low-tax structure, the franking refund is a real addition to your effective return that this projection deliberately leaves out.
VHY holds the large Australian companies with the highest forecast dividend yields, so it is the fund people mean when they search for an ASX dividend calculator. Its 12-month income yield of 4.13% is the highest of the nine share ETFs and came 89.4% franked: $100,000 pays about $4,130 a year before tax, with roughly $1,580 of franking credits on top. The 5-year return of 11.91% after a 0.25% fee beat VAS by a wide margin, but that reflects a strong stretch for banks and miners, which dominate the index, rather than a permanent edge. It is more concentrated than VAS, so both its yield and its price can move further in either direction.
VGS tracks MSCI World ex-Australia, covering developed markets outside Australia. Its 5-year return of 12.87% is the strongest of the Australian-domiciled diversified options here, but it carries a 0.18% fee, a low income yield of 1.38% and no franking. Over a 30-year horizon that fee gap is worth modelling: run VGS and VAS side by side and compare the real (inflation-adjusted) figures, not the nominal ones.
IVV is the AU-domiciled S&P 500 tracker, so it is a concentrated bet on large-cap United States equities rather than a diversified global holding. Its 5-year return of 14.38% on the lowest fee tier (0.04%) covers an exceptionally strong run for US large-caps, and its 1.25% yield says it is a growth holding, not an income one. Treat the historical figure as one input, not a forecast — the Custom option exists so you can test a more conservative assumption.
NDQ holds the 100 largest non-financial companies on the NASDAQ, which in practice means a heavy weighting to US technology. It shows the highest 5-year return of the share ETFs in the table at 16.74% and a 10-year figure of 21.57%, but at a 0.48% fee, the highest of the share ETFs, which takes roughly a tenth off a 30-year balance on its own. Distributions are small (1.4%), unfranked and paid half-yearly. The ten-year number is the product of one extraordinary decade for a handful of companies; the Custom option is the honest way to test what a lower return does to the projection.
A200 tracks the Solactive Australia 200 and is the closest competitor to VAS, at a lower fee (0.04% versus 0.07%) with a 5-year return of 7.82%, a 3.3% yield and a 71.1% franking level. The two are close enough that fee and franking treatment, rather than index choice, tend to be the deciding factors: put A200 and VAS side by side to see the fee gap in dollars.
IOZ is the iShares tracker for the S&P/ASX 200, sitting between VAS and A200 on fee (0.05%) with a 5-year return of 7.61% and a 3.40% trailing yield. BlackRock reports franking per distribution rather than as an annual level, so no franking figure is shown or modelled for it. For most investors the three Australian broad-market funds are interchangeable on returns; the differences are fee, provider and how franking is reported.
VDHG is one fund holding a whole portfolio: 90% growth assets (36% Australian shares, with the rest across international, hedged international, small-company and emerging-market shares) and 10% bonds, rebalanced by Vanguard. Its 5-year return of 8.84% after the 0.27% fee sits between VAS and VGS, which is what a blend of them should do. Read the figure as the return of that mix, not of any one market — and the bond sleeve is there to soften falls, which a single average cannot show.
DHHF holds 100% shares across Australian, US, developed and emerging markets with no bonds, which is why its 5-year return of 10.14% after a 0.19% fee runs above VDHG’s over the same period. Treat the gap as the cost of VDHG’s bond sleeve during a strong run for shares, not a permanent edge. Run DHHF and VDHG side by side to see what that gap comes to on your own contributions. For any other all-in-one fund, use the Custom option with the 5-year return and fee from its current fact sheet.
GOLD holds physical gold and follows the gold price in Australian dollars, with no currency hedge. It returned 19.5% a year over five years and 12.8% over ten, after a 0.40% fee, to 30 September 2026. Gold pays no income, so GOLD pays no distributions and there is no franking: the whole return is the change in price. The five-year figure covers an exceptional run for gold, well above its ten-year rate, so run the projection a second time with the Custom option at a lower rate before relying on it.
QAU also holds physical gold but hedges the Australian dollar against the US dollar, so it follows the US-dollar gold price rather than the Australian-dollar one. That is why its returns differ from GOLD’s: 16.92% a year over five years and 10.08% over ten, after a 0.59% fee. It pays a distribution once a year, a 12-month yield of 5.3% at 30 September 2026, and the amount varies from year to year. Distributions are not franked.
PMGOLD is not one of the presets: every preset uses figures to the same date, 30 September 2026. Perth Mint’s fact sheet to 30 June 2026 showed 19.72% a year over five years and 12.49% over ten, after a 0.15% fee. To model it, choose Custom and enter the return from Perth Mint’s current fact sheet.