While You Bought Costumes and Candy, This Investment Doubled

While You Bought Costumes and Candy, This Investment Doubled: Halloween Spending vs. S&P 500 Returns (2015-2025)

InvestorsObserver research shows how a decade of small annual choices could have turned $923 into nearly $2,000.

Researchers from InvestorsObserver combed through a decade of actual consumer spending data and historical market performance to find an answer to the question: What if Americans skipped Halloween spending and invested it in the S&P 500? The answer is scary – in a good way.

The Opportunity Cost is Real

If households had invested their Halloween budgets from 2015 through 2024 into the S&P 500, they would have turned $923.60 into $1,986.85 as of October 28, 2025. That’s a gain of $1,063.25 – more than doubling their money in a single decade.

“This analysis isn’t urging Americans to skip Halloween,” explains Sam Bourgi, finance analyst at InvestorsObserver. “It aims to help people understand the less obvious cost of everyday spending decisions. When families see what $92 per year in Halloween spending could become, they begin to grasp the true power of compound growth.”

Time in the Market Beats Timing the Market

The findings illustrate a key investing principle: the earlier someone invests, the more wealth compounds over time.

Someone who invested just $74.34 (the 2015 Halloween budget) into the S&P 500 would have $245.80 today – a 230.6% return. By contrast, someone investing $103.63 (the 2024 budget) would have only $124.88 today – a 20.5% return. The difference is nine extra years of compounding growth.

“That’s a $121 difference from the same entry point,” notes Bourgi. “It proves why starting early matters so much. The first nine years did nearly all the work. The last year did almost nothing by comparison. This is why financial advisors constantly emphasize that time in the market is more important than timing the market.”

Perhaps more surprising is that even the worst possible entry point generated profits. The 2021 investment, made when the S&P 500 was near its peak at $4,605, still produced a 49.3% return in just four years.

Small Amounts, Big Results

The average Halloween budget is roughly $92 per year – pocket change in most household budgets. Yet this analysis shows that investing $92 annually over a decade generated over $1,000 in pure gains. For families averaging $114 per person this year, investing instead of spending could grow to $275 or more within a decade.

“What surprises me most about this analysis is how attainable it is,” says Bourgi. “We’re not talking about investing thousands of dollars. We’re talking about redirecting the cost of a few Halloween costumes and some extra candy. Most families could redirect half their Halloween budget without noticing a difference, yet the long-term impact would be transformational.”

The Record Spending Trend Reveals a Choice

American families are projected to spend a record $114 per person on Halloween in 2025. If that same $114 were invested in the S&P 500 instead, it could grow to approximately $126.88 by October 2026 – a $12.88 gain with essentially no effort beyond buying and holding.

“Halloween spending keeps climbing every year,” Bourgi observes. “Families are choosing bigger celebrations. But this analysis challenges that assumption. Why would you be collectively spending billions on decorations and candy that disappear after one night, when that money could be building genuine financial security?”

The Key Lesson

This research doesn’t argue that families should eliminate Halloween celebrations. Rather, it shows how ordinary financial decisions accumulate into extraordinary differences in wealth over time.

“The lesson here is about intention,” Bourgi concludes. “Every dollar spent carries an invisible price tag – what that dollar could have become through investing. Understanding that cost helps families make conscious choices about their spending and saving patterns.”

Methodology

This analysis examined hypothetical S&P 500 investments using actual Halloween spending data from the National Retail Federation (2015-2024) and historical S&P 500 closing prices from Yahoo Finance. All calculations assume buy-and-hold strategies with no transaction fees or tax considerations.

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