ARKK calculator
Historical growth of ARK Innovation ETF using Actively managed — S&P 500 proxy is illustrative only return series. Dividends reinvested at year-end; expense ratio drag not applied to historical figures (use projection mode for a lifetime fee estimate).
$10,000 invested in ARKK at inception (2014) with dividends reinvested through end of 2024 would be worth approximately $38,340 nominal ($28,475 in 2014 dollars). Annualized nominal: 13.00%; real: 9.98%. Actively managed; historical outperformance heavily concentrated 2020-2021.
Uses annual S&P 500 total return (with dividends reinvested) and CPI-U inflation, 1928–2024. Source: Damodaran (NYU Stern) + Shiller CAPE + BLS. Excludes fees, taxes, and bid/ask. Real return = nominal ÷ cumulative CPI.
ARKK at a glance
| Full name | ARK Innovation ETF |
| Provider | ARK Invest |
| Expense ratio | 0.75% |
| Inception | 2014 |
| Assets under management | $5B |
| Return series used | Actively managed — S&P 500 proxy is illustrative only |
What a growth tilt buys you
Growth funds overweight companies with fast revenue expansion and rich valuations. They shine when rates fall and momentum runs (2009–2021), and lag brutally when valuations compress (2000–2008, 2022). Over the full century, value has actually outperformed growth — the recent growth decade is the historical exception, not the rule. A growth ETF is a fine satellite, but pairing it with everything-else exposure keeps one regime change from defining your outcome.
What 0.75% costs over 30 years
Expense ratios compound against you exactly the way returns compound for you. On a $10,000 position growing at a 10% gross return for 30 years, ARKK's 0.75% fee quietly consumes about $32,378 of the final balance. The cheapest fund in the same category, VUG at 0.04%, would cost about $1,894 — a difference of $30,484 for holding what is often a near-identical basket.
ARKK vs same-category peers
| Fund | ER | Yield | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| ARKK (this page) | 0.75% | — | 2014 |
| VUG | 0.04% | 0.5% | 2004 |
| IWF | 0.19% | 0.6% | 2000 |
How this calculator works
For each start year, we apply the year-by-year total return of the Actively managed — S&P 500 proxy is illustrative only to the entered starting amount, compounding annually with dividends reinvested at year-end. This mirrors what an actual buy-and-hold ARKK holder would have experienced, before fees and taxes. Expense ratio is intentionally excluded from the historical result to keep the underlying series comparable across ETFs; for a full lifetime fee estimate at 0.75%, use the projection tab in our fund fee analyzer.