📈 Investment Return Calculator: Total Return, CAGR and Growth with Contributions

How to use this investment return calculator

1. Choose a mode. Rate of return calculator (historical) measures what already happened; investment growth calculator (projection) estimates what a contribution plan could reach under an assumed return.
2. Enter your starting value and, in historical mode, the ending value plus the holding period in years.
3. Add a regular contribution and its frequency if you are projecting growth — this is the investment calculator with monthly contributions setting.
4. Set the assumed annual return, compounding frequency, an annual fee, and an inflation rate. All three are editable so you can test your own assumptions.
5. Read the results, then open the method and worked examples below to reproduce the arithmetic yourself.

Infographic: where your investment result comes from

Infographic: total return versus annualized return

Comparison table 1: which output answers which question

Comparison table 2: fee drag over a long horizon

Computed as 10,000 × (1 + 0.07 − fee)^years with full internal precision, displayed half-up to the cent. The fee convention here is a simple annual subtraction of the fee percentage from the gross return; some funds charge fees on assets rather than returns, so treat these as order-of-magnitude figures and check the fee table of your own fund.

Return on investment calculator: the simple ROI view

When you care about profit per dollar of cost rather than time, use the cost basis field. The return on investment calculator divides net profit by everything you put in, which makes it the honest choice when you added deposits along the way — the same numbers that feed a rate of return calculator for a single lump sum.

• Profit = Ending value − Cost basis.
• ROI = Profit ÷ Cost basis, shown to two decimals.
• A cost basis of 0 returns a request for more information instead of a result, because the ratio would be undefined.
• ROI ignores how long the money was tied up; pair it with the annualized return above before comparing it with anything else.

If you held a stock, enter what you paid in total as the cost basis and what it is worth now as the ending value — this is a simple return calculation on numbers you already know. The tool does not look up prices, dividends or market data.

How to calculate investment return: method, formulas and rounding

Every result on this page comes from the formulas below. Variables: Start = beginning value in USD; End = ending value in USD; Y = holding period in years; PMT = contribution per period; n = total number of periods; i = periodic rate = annual rate ÷ periods per year; f = annual fee percent; π = annual inflation percent.

Total return = (End − Start) ÷ Start

The whole-period gain or loss as a share of what you started with.

CAGR = (End ÷ Start)^(1/Y) − 1

The constant yearly rate that turns Start into End over Y years, often called the average annual return — strictly a compounded, not an arithmetic, average. Used only when there are no interim cash flows.

Simple ROI = (End − Cost) ÷ Cost

Net profit divided by the total cost basis you entered.

Future value = Start × (1+i)ⁿ + PMT × ((1+i)ⁿ − 1) ÷ i

Growth of the starting balance plus an ordinary annuity of contributions, with growth compounded each period. If i = 0 the annuity term is simply PMT × n.

Real return = (1 + nominal) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1

Inflation-adjusted return. The shortcut nominal − inflation is shown only when labeled as an approximation; this page uses the exact form.

Net-of-fee convention: net return = gross return − fee percent

A stated calculator convention, applied to the assumed annual return in projection mode and to the annualized result in historical mode. Fees compound against you because a smaller balance grows more slowly.

Rounding rule

Internal arithmetic runs at full double precision; percentages are displayed to two decimals, currency half-up to the cent (US en-US conventions), and years may be fractional. Display rounding never changes the underlying numbers used in later steps.

Special cases and validation

• A total loss (End = 0) reports a total return of −100.00% and a CAGR of −100% only as a special case, because (0/Start)^(1/Y) − 1 is −1 for any positive Y.
• Start must be greater than 0 for CAGR; End cannot be below 0; Y must be between 0.01 and 100; empty fields return a request for more information rather than a number.
• Any division by zero, empty or non-numeric input shows a clear message — never NaN, Infinity or undefined.

Worked examples you can reproduce

Each example lists its inputs and every substitution. Type the same inputs into the calculator above and you should get the same displayed figures.

Example 1 — total return and annualized return (hypothetical)

Start $10,000.00, End $17,000.00, Y = 7.00 years, no interim cash flows.

Total return = (17,000 − 10,000) ÷ 10,000 = 7,000 ÷ 10,000 = 70.00%.

CAGR = (17,000 ÷ 10,000)^(1/7) − 1 = 1.7^0.142857 − 1 = 0.078751 = 7.88% displayed.

Example 2 — projection with monthly contributions (hypothetical)

Start $10,000.00, PMT $500.00 at the end of each month for 20 years (n = 240 months), assumed 7.00% a year compounded monthly, i = 0.07 ÷ 12 = 0.00583333.

Future value = 10,000 × (1.00583333)²⁴⁰ + 500 × ((1.00583333)²⁴⁰ − 1) ÷ 0.00583333 = $300,850.72.

Total money invested = 10,000 + 500 × 240 = $130,000.00. Growth = 300,850.72 − 130,000 = $170,850.72. This is what-if arithmetic on an assumed return, not a forecast.

Example 3 — inflation adjusted return (hypothetical)

Nominal 7.00%, inflation 3.00%.

Real return = (1.07 ÷ 1.03) − 1 = 1.038835 − 1 = 0.038835 = 3.88%. The shortcut 7 − 3 = 4% would overstate this by 0.12 percentage points and is shown only as an approximation.

Example 4 — simple ROI (hypothetical)

Cost $20,000.00, profit $5,000.00 after fees.

ROI = 5,000 ÷ 20,000 = 25.00%. A cost of 0 cannot produce a ratio, so the calculator asks for more information instead of dividing by zero.

Common mistakes when calculating investment returns

• Confusing total return with annualized return. A 70% total gain over 7 years is 7.88% a year, not 10% a year. Always divide the period into the picture before comparing two investments.
• Using the wrong denominator for ROI. If you added money along the way, dividing profit only by your opening balance overstates the return. Enter a cost basis that includes every dollar you put in.
• Ignoring fees. Subtracting 1% a year from a 7% return does not cost you 1% of the final balance; over 30 years it costs far more, because the fee reduces the balance that would otherwise compound.
• Subtracting inflation instead of dividing. Nominal minus inflation is an approximation. The exact real return divides: (1 + nominal) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1.
• Treating an assumed return as a promise. A projection with a 7% assumption is a scenario. Low and high scenarios usually span a wide range of outcomes, and losses are possible in every one of them.
• Forgetting that CAGR hides the path. An investment can be up 40% one year and down 30% the next and still show a positive CAGR. Volatility and the risk of loss are invisible in a single average rate.
• Reading a headline return as after-tax. This calculator excludes taxes, trading commissions and spreads. Your realized result after tax will differ.

FAQ

Glossary

Investment holding period return

The total percentage change in value from the moment you bought to the moment you measured, including any change in value of the asset itself: (End − Start) ÷ Start.

Compound annual growth rate (CAGR)

The smoothed yearly rate implied by a start and end value: (End ÷ Start)^(1/years) − 1. The compound annual growth rate calculator on this page applies exactly that formula, and only when there were no deposits or withdrawals mid-period.

Return on investment (ROI)

Net profit divided by the cost that produced it. A cost-basis based ratio that works even when contributions were made over time.

Real return versus nominal return

Nominal is the reported percentage gain; real removes the effect of inflation using (1 + nominal) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1. Real return tells you whether your purchasing power improved.

Time-weighted versus money-weighted return

Time-weighted return measures the fund or strategy itself by linking sub-period returns, so deposits and withdrawals do not distort it. Money-weighted return (an IRR-style measure) reflects the timing of your own cash flows. This calculator computes a simple CAGR and ROI; it does not compute IRR or XIRR.

Ordinary annuity

A stream of equal contributions made at the end of each period — the pattern used here for regular deposits.

Expense ratio / annual fee

The yearly percentage a fund or advisor charges, taken from your assets. Modeled as a straight subtraction from the assumed return.

Fee drag

The compounding cost of paying a fee every year instead of keeping that money invested.

Related calculators

When your question moves from returns to payments, income or specific account types, these Varnda tools cover the neighboring math:

• Personal loan calculator — monthly payment, interest and total cost — for borrowing rather than investing.
• Mortgage calculator with taxes, insurance and PMI — the largest purchase most households evaluate against investment alternatives.
• Credit card payoff calculator — time to pay — paying down a 20%+ APR balance is a guaranteed return that beats most investing assumptions.
• Paycheck calculator — estimate your take-home pay — the source of the money you contribute.

Data last updated: 2026-10-18. Treat every source below as a starting point you should open yourself before relying on any figure.

• SEC Investor.gov — investor education on compound interest, fees and past performance.
• FINRA — investor education on investing basics, costs and fees.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index — the official U.S. inflation series behind any inflation figure you enter yourself.
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — consumer investing resources.

Changelog: v1.0.0 (2026-10-18) — first release: total return, CAGR, simple ROI, projection with contributions, fee drag, real return, scenario band.

Limitations, exclusions and assumptions

• Scope of this tool: total return, annualized return (CAGR), simple ROI, projection with regular contributions, real (inflation adjusted) return and fee drag — all as arithmetic on the numbers you enter.
• Excluded: federal and state taxes on gains, capital gains rates, trading commissions and spreads, dividend reinvestment details beyond the total value you enter, benchmark comparisons, risk-adjusted metrics, and IRR/XIRR for irregular cash flows.
• Estimate with limitations: every projection. An assumed return is an editable input with a default that is illustrative only; it is not a published rate, a forecast or a guarantee.
• No advice: nothing here is financial, tax or legal advice, and no part of this page implies endorsement by any agency, plan provider or brand.

About this page

The figures are reproducible arithmetic, not expert opinion.

Corrections: if you believe a number or explanation here is wrong, use the contact route published on the Varnda site's contact or about page and include the calculator name, the section and what you found. No email address is invented here; the official channel is whatever the site itself publishes.

Privacy: every calculation runs in your browser on this page. Nothing you type is transmitted to a server by this tool, and inputs are kept in memory only — closing the page discards them. No accounts, no identifiers, no tracking of your figures.

Changelog: v1.0.0, 2026-10-18 — first release.