Anyone happen to have 1997-2003 historical annual returns for VFIAX?

[blguest]

VFIAX = the "Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral". I have a client for whom I'm calculating a marital portion of an old 401k containing that single investment. That 401k has undergone some mergers and recordkeeper changes such that historical statements for individuals are no longer available. The parties agreed to ballpark the present value of the premarital balance, and to estimate that premarital balance by working backward from a later balance by subtracting annual fund overall returns on that single investment. Whether or not this is the right/smart way to approach it is not the issue, finding the historical fund returns is. (I'm a lawyer rather than a math person, but I can run a spreadsheet with reasonable competence.) The annual returns sought on that VFIAX fund as a whole are for the years 1997-2003. I have been able to locate overall fund returns back to 2003, but not before that, and would be grateful if anyone happens to have those. Suggestions and criticisms are also welcome.

[Peter Gulia]

Are you certain about the exact fund—whether SEC-registered mutual funds or a trust company’s collective investment trust, and of the exact class of shares or units?

Vanguard states November 13, 2000 for VFIAX’s inception.

Consider that the plan’s investment alternative for at least some, and maybe much or all, of 1997-2003 might have been another fund or class of shares.

That a retirement plan’s statement for a period after 2003 shows a holding in VFIAX does not mean the plan had the same investment in earlier periods.

Given that the participant and the might-be alternate payee might agree on ways to approximate hypothetical returns, values, and amounts, might they tolerate another simplification? Instead of looking for any Vanguard fund’s returns, get the S&P 500 Index numbers, and assume the retirement plan’s investment alternative’s returns were, yearly, five basis points lower.

There are other ways to collect or use real information. But the expense might be disproportionate to whatever value your client might obtain by using a more careful estimate.

This is not advice to anyone.