Calculate your total return, annualized growth (CAGR), and final balance, with or without recurring contributions.
Free investment return planner: model lump sums, recurring contributions, and any compounding frequency to see total return, CAGR, and the year-by-year curve.
Balance, contributions, and gains at the end of each year.
Direct answers to the most common questions, in plain language. Skim if you're in a hurry; dig deeper below.
Total return = final value − total contributed.
Total return in dollars is your final balance minus everything you put in. Total return percent divides that gain by what you contributed. Annualized return (CAGR) tells you the steady yearly growth rate that would produce the same result.
CAGR is geometric; average return is arithmetic.
CAGR is the constant annual rate that turns your starting value into your ending value over the full holding period. Average return just adds up yearly returns and divides; it overstates real growth whenever returns are volatile. CAGR is the honest number.
Pure CAGR assumes no contributions.
CAGR is cleanest when there are no contributions, because then the only thing growing the balance is the return itself. With recurring deposits, the displayed CAGR becomes approximate: it solves backward from your total contributions and final value, not from market returns alone.
6–8% real, 8–10% nominal for diversified equity.
Long-run U.S. equity has returned about 10% nominal and 7% real (after 3% inflation). Bonds sit closer to 4% nominal. Pick a number you would defend to a skeptical friend, and stress-test the plan at 2 percentage points lower.
The mechanics in short answers. No jargon, no upsell.
Your starting balance grows at the rate you choose, compounded at your selected frequency. Monthly compounding edges out annual by a small but real amount.
Every monthly deposit gets fewer years to compound than the one before. Early contributions do most of the heavy lifting.
The gain line is everything the market gave you on top of what you put in. The percent is that gain divided by your contributions.
CAGR answers the question: "what single steady rate would have produced this exact result?" With contributions, it becomes an approximation, not a market return.
Worked example: At the defaults ($10,000 plus $500/month at 8% compounded monthly for 20 years), the portfolio reaches about $343,800 on $130,000 contributed.
Assumes a constant return with monthly deposits treated as an annuity; when you contribute monthly, the displayed CAGR is an approximation that treats total contributions as the day-one cost basis. All math runs locally in your browser.
Designed so anyone can model their situation in under a minute, with or without a finance background.
Both dollar gain and CAGR in one place, with no spreadsheet and no formulas to memorize.
Add a monthly deposit and watch the compounding curve steepen against the contribution line.
Stretch or shrink the years to see how time changes the math more than rate ever will.
Geometric mean: the number that survives volatile years, not an inflated arithmetic average.
Drop your return by 2 points and see whether the plan still holds. Most do not.
See exactly when contributions stop driving growth and compounding takes over.
Everything you might ask before, during, or after using this tool.
Final value is your starting amount compounded forward, plus the accumulated value of every monthly contribution at the same rate. Total return in dollars is final value minus total contributed; total return percent divides that gain by contributions. CAGR solves for the constant annual rate that links start to finish.
Total return is cumulative: the whole gain over the whole period. CAGR is annualized: the steady yearly rate that produced that same cumulative result. A 100% total return over 10 years is roughly a 7.2% CAGR.
CAGR mathematically assumes a single sum growing at one rate. When you add contributions over time, each one compounds for a different number of years, so the "rate" implied by start-to-end values is not your actual market return. The calculator labels this clearly.
A little. Monthly compounding at 8% yields about 8.30% effective annually; daily yields about 8.33%. The difference between monthly and annual is real but small, usually under 0.4 percentage points at typical equity returns.
Use nominal returns to plan dollar amounts (what your statement will show). Use real returns to plan purchasing power (what those dollars can buy). For long-term planning, real returns are almost always the honest choice; 7% real is the conservative anchor for diversified equity.
A 1% annual fee compounds against you the same way returns compound for you. Over 30 years, a 1% expense ratio can quietly erase 20–25% of your final balance. Subtract your all-in fees from the expected return before entering it here.
Long-run averages sit near 10% nominal and 7% real. A diversified portfolio with bonds will run lower; 6–8% nominal is a reasonable mixed-portfolio assumption. Never plan on the recent past; plan on the long run.
This calculator assumes a flat monthly contribution. For variable deposits, run two scenarios (high and low contribution) and use the midpoint, or set the monthly to the average you have actually sustained over the last 12 months.
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A 10% return sounds great until you remember that 3% of it just kept pace with inflation. The nominal return is the headline number on your statement. The real return (nominal minus inflation) is the growth in purchasing power, and it is the only number that tells you whether you are actually getting richer.
For long-term plans, always model with real returns. If you assume 7% real and inflation comes in at 3%, your account statements will read about 10%, and your buying power will grow exactly as planned. If you assume 10% nominal without subtracting inflation, you will be quietly short by the time the plan matures.
A 1% expense ratio does not feel like much. Over a 30-year horizon, it can quietly evaporate 20–25% of your final balance: silently, every month, with no notification. The same is true of frequent trading taxes, advisor fees over 1%, and any product with hidden loads.
Before you enter an expected return, subtract everything that comes off the top: expense ratios, advisory fees, expected tax drag in taxable accounts. The number you put into the calculator should be the net return you actually keep.
If a fund returns +50% one year and −50% the next, its average return is 0%. Its CAGR is −13.4%. The CAGR is the honest one; it accounts for the fact that losses are mathematically harder to recover from than equivalent gains.
Whenever a marketing page advertises "average annual return," it is almost always the arithmetic mean, and almost always higher than the CAGR. Compute the CAGR yourself from the start and end values, and compare.
Two short notes worth reading before you trust any number on this page.
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We are not a bank, NBFC, advisor, broker, or distributor of any financial product. The numbers shown here are estimates for educational purposes only, based on the inputs you provide.
Results are not financial, legal, or tax advice. Please consult a qualified professional before any decision about your loan, investments, or personal finances. Actual loan terms and charges depend on your bank and individual circumstances.
