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2024 saw investors experience the second largest performance gap of the past decade, with a gap
of 848 basis points. In 2025, the S&P 500 return was 17.88% compared with the Average Equity
Investor’s return of 17.16%, narrowing the investor gap to 0.72% or 72 basis points. This represents the third smallest gap since 1985, and the lowest since 2012.
The year also saw elevated levels of equity selling activity, with total withdrawals reaching 6.91% of assets, including a record monthly withdrawal rate of 2.30% in July 2025.
Performance for the Average Fixed Income Investor turned positive in 2025, rising to 2.41%. Despite
the improvement, the investor gap for fixed income widened, with the Bloomberg Aggregate Bond
Index returning 7.30%, resulting in a gap of 4.89%.
Now in its 32nd year, DALBAR’s QAIB remains one of the industry’s most widely cited studies of
investor behavior, drawing on decades of historical data to quantify the impact of investor
decisions on realized returns.
The report provides detailed analysis across asset classes, inflows and outflows and long-term
investor performance trends using historical investor gap data beginning in 1985.
For more information or to purchase the 2026 QAIB Report, please visit www.qaib.com.
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