The Time Traveler's Investment Calculator is an Smart phone application.

This calculator allows the user to pick any year as far back as the 1800, and "invest" an amount of money in each of the following: a short term portfolio of treasury bills or commercial paper (from 1831 on), a long tem portfolio of bonds (from 1800 on), a portfolio of stocks in S&P average with dividends reinvested (from 1871 on), gold (from 1800 on), or owning a home (from 1890 on). The user then picks the year of withdrawal and the calculator tells how much would be accumulated in each of the five investments and the annualized growth rate that accumulation represents.

The Annualized growth rate is the hypothetical constant per-year rate that takes the beginning-date value of a series to the ending-date value of the series during the time span.

For the choice of the short-term asset, the calculator assumes that the principal investment is made in equal installments throughout the initial year at the average short-term rate for that year. The principal plus the interest accumulated is then reinvested at the average short-term rate for the second year. This continues until the year of withdrawal, when it is assumed money is taken out in equal installments throughout that year.
The short-term rate is available from 1831 to the present. The observations used by the calculator are the interest return on treasury bills, carried back in time by the interest rate on commercial paper. The data are "U.S. Short-term: Ordinary funds, Consistent series" in The Interest Rates Used in MeasuringWorth.

For the choice of the long-term asset, the calculator assumes that the principal investment is made in equal installments throughout the initial year at the average long-term rate for that year. The principal plus the interest accumulated is then reinvested at the average long-term rate for the second year. This continues until the year of withdrawal, when it is assumed money is taken out in equal installments throughout that year.
The long-term rate is available from 1800 to the present. The observations long-term rate used are the interest return on corporate bonds carried back in time by the interest return on New England municipal bonds, and U.S. government securities. The data are "U.S. Long-Term: Consistent Series" in The Interest Rates Used in MeasuringWorth.

For the choice of the stock asset, the calculator assumes that principal investment is a purchase of all the stocks in the composite S&P average at their average price during January of the initial year. The dividends earned during the year are assumed to be reinvested at the price of the stocks in the composite in the January of the next year. It is assumed that you hold the portfolio until the year of withdrawal, and that you sell the stocks in the portfolio at their average price during January of that year. It is also assumed that, during the entire period of investment, there are no commissions or taxes paid. The portfolio of stock is available from 1871 to the present. The stock asset used is the Standard and Poors Composite Index. The data with an explanation of how they are computed are in The Annual Standard and Poor's Composite Stock Index, the Yield, and a "Portfolio" of the Index with Dividends Reinvested.

For the choice of buying and holding gold, the calculator assumes that the principal investment is a purchased of gold at the average price of gold for the initial year. It is assumed the gold is held until the year of withdrawal, and then sold at the average price of gold in that year. It is important to know that before 1967, gold prices were fixed by the government. Between 1879 and 1967 there was one price change from $20.67 to $35 in 1933-34.
The gold price used, that is available from 1800 on, is the New York market price of gold and can be found at The Price of Gold, 1257 - Present.

For the choice of owning a home, the calculator assumes a home (or part of a home) is bought in the initial year and sold in the year of withdrawal. During the time the home is held. it is assumed there are no modification made, commissions or taxes paid.
For the most recent years, the data on home prices are from Standard & Poors where there are three composite index series reported: the National, 10-City and 20-City. These series are called the Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. The National is the quarterly series, and the other two come out monthly. From 1987 to the present, the home price index used in this calculator is the not-seasonally adjusted first quarter of the National series.
The data from 1934 to 1990,are published in Irrational Exuberanceby Robert Shiller [Princeton University Press 2000, Broadway Books 2001, 2nd edition, 2005].
The data from 1890 to 1933 are from Capital Formation in Residential Real Estate: Trends and Prospects by LeoGrebler, David M. Blank, and Louis Winnick, Princeton University Press, 1956, and are the annual observations found on p. 347.