Investment Return Calculator (CAGR)

How it works

The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is the smoothed annual rate at which an investment would have grown to its final value if it had compounded at a steady rate. It is the most useful single number for comparing investments across different time periods because it accounts for compounding.

To use this calculator, enter the amount you initially invested, the amount it is worth today (or when you sold), and how long you held it. The calculator returns three numbers: the absolute profit (or loss), the total return as a percentage, and the CAGR.

Total return is straightforward: (final − initial) / initial. CAGR adjusts for time so you can compare a 5-year hold to a 10-year hold meaningfully. A 100% total return over 10 years is only ~7.2% per year compounded, while the same 100% over 5 years is ~14.9% per year — a very different trajectory.

CAGR has limitations. It assumes a single deposit and a single final value, so it does not account for additional contributions or withdrawals during the period (use an internal-rate-of-return calculation for that case). It also smooths over year-to-year volatility — an investment that gained 60% then lost 40% over two years has the same CAGR as one that returned a steady ~−2% per year, even though the experience is very different.

For benchmark comparisons, the S&P 500's long-term real CAGR (after inflation) is roughly 7%; nominal returns (before inflation) average closer to 10%. Use these as sanity checks for your own results.