Investment Return Calculator (CAGR & IRR)

How to use the calculator

1. One amount in, one value out: stay on Start & end value (CAGR) and enter what you invested, what it is worth now and how many years you held it.
2. A stock or ETF: type its ticker and click Fill in, then pick the month you bought it and whether to include dividends. The calculator fills in the end value and the years from Quotelinks price history.
3. Money added or taken out over time: switch to Deposits & withdrawals (IRR), list each one with its date and amount, and enter today’s value.
4. Open Advanced to set inflation and a benchmark return to compare against, for example 7% for a broad stock index fund.

CAGR: the annual return of a single investment

The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is the steady yearly return that would turn the start value into the end value over the same time:

CAGR = (end value / start value)^(1 / years) − 1

$10,000 that grew to $18,000 in 6 years has a total return of 80%, but a CAGR of 10.29% a year. With 2.5% inflation, the real return is 7.60% a year: (1 + 10.29%) / (1 + 2.5%) − 1.

Why not just average the yearly returns? Because losses and gains don’t cancel out. A fund that gains 50% one year and loses 50% the next has an average return of 0%, but $10,000 becomes $7,500: a CAGR of −13.4% a year.

IRR: when you added or withdrew money

If money went in and out at different times, CAGR on the totals is misleading: money invested last month has had no time to grow. The money-weighted return, or internal rate of return (IRR), finds the single yearly rate r at which all your deposits, withdrawals and today’s value balance out:

sum of  cash flow / (1 + r)^(days since the first flow / 365)  = 0

This is the same calculation as Excel’s XIRR function. Deposits count as money out of your pocket, withdrawals and today’s value as money back. Example: $10,000 invested in January 2019, $5,000 added in June 2020, $2,000 taken out in March 2022, and a value of $21,000 on October 29, 2026 give a money-weighted return of 6.41% a year.

Your return vs your fund’s return

A fund reports a time-weighted return, which ignores when money came in or went out. Your own money-weighted return can be higher or lower: adding a lot just before a fall lowers it, adding before a rise raises it. That is why your account can show a different return from the fund’s fact sheet.

Common mistakes

• Comparing total returns over different periods. 80% over 6 years and 60% over 3 years are very different; compare annual rates instead.
• Leaving out dividends. For stocks and funds, dividends are a big part of the return. Keep Reinvested selected in the ticker lookup to include them.
• Reading too much into short periods. An annual rate for less than a year stretches a short result to a full year.
• Forgetting fees and taxes. Use the value you would actually receive.

For the return of a listed stock or ETF between two dates, with and without dividends, use the stock return calculator; the real return calculator shows the same return after inflation.

Frequently asked questions

Related calculators

• Stock Return Calculator With DividendsTotal return, price return and the part added by dividends for any stock or ETF between two months.
• Real Return Calculator (Inflation-Adjusted)The return of any US stock or ETF after inflation between two months, in total and per year.
• Stock Profit CalculatorProfit or loss, return, break-even price and tax on a stock trade, including commissions.
• What If I Had Invested CalculatorWhat an investment in any US stock or ETF in any past month would be worth today, vs the S&P 500.

See all free investing calculators, or add live stock quotes to your site with the free stock widgets.