Investment return calculator: annualised and total return

Investment return calculator

Annualised return

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Enter the amount invested, the period and the final value to see the return.

Period: —
Regular contributions: —
Total paid in: —
Value at the end: —
Income and withdrawals: —
Gain or loss: —
Total return: —
Method: —
Real return, after inflation: —

Total or annualised return?

The total return compares the gain with everything you paid in, however long it took. The annualised return turns it into a rate per year that you can compare with a savings account or a fund: with no regular contributions it is the compound annual growth rate; with contributions, each sum counts only for the time it stayed invested.

Recent calculations

Nothing yet: copy, export or save a calculation to find it here.

How it works

Enter what you invested, how long you held it and what it is worth now. You get the gain, the total return and the annualised return: the yearly rate that would have produced the same result. Regular contributions, dividends and withdrawals all count, and you can add inflation to see the real return.

What went in

Enter the lump sum you started with, including any dealing charges. If you topped the investment up every month or every year, add the amount of each contribution. Contributions are counted at the end of each period: 6 years of monthly contributions make 72.

What came out

The value at the end is what the investment is worth on the day you check, or what you sold it for, after costs. Put dividends, interest or rent paid out to you, and any money you took out, under ‘Income and withdrawals’, or the return will be understated.

Reading the result

Compare investments on the annualised return. Amounts are rounded to the nearest penny and rates to the nearest hundredth of a percentage point. Copy the workings, export them as a CSV file or save them to Priostack.

Total paid in = starting amount + number of contributions × contribution.

Gain = final value + income − total paid in; total return = gain ÷ total paid in.

With no regular contributions: annualised return = ((final value + income) ÷ starting amount)^(1 ÷ years) − 1, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR).

With contributions: the rate r at which every sum paid in, grown at r until the end, adds up to the final value plus income (the money-weighted return, or internal rate of return).

Real return = (1 + annualised return) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1.

Example: £5,000, then £200 a month for 6 years

You put £5,000 into a stocks and shares ISA, then £200 at the end of every month for 6 years: 72 contributions and £19,400.00 paid in altogether. It is now worth £24,500. The gain is £5,100.00, a total return of 26.29%. Each contribution was invested for less than the 6 years, the last one not at all, so the annualised return is 6.23% a year. Inside an ISA there is no tax to take off that gain.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between total and annualised return?

The total return is the gain over the whole period: £8,000 that became £11,000, plus £400 of dividends, over 4 years and 6 months is 42.5%. The annualised return turns that into a compound rate per year, 8.19%, not 42.5 ÷ 4.5 = 9.44%, because each year's gains go on to earn gains of their own.

Why does it matter when I paid in?

Money paid in last month has had no time to grow. Dividing the gain by everything paid in, as the total return does, therefore understates an investment you have been topping up. The annualised return weights each contribution by how long it was invested, which is what a money-weighted return, or internal rate of return, does.

Is the return before or after tax?

Before tax. You pay no tax on income or capital gains from investments in an ISA. Outside one, dividends above your allowances and capital gains above the tax-free allowance can be taxed. To see a return after tax, enter the final value less the tax you paid or will pay.

What inflation rate should I enter?

The average yearly rise in prices over the time you held the investment, not the latest figure. The ONS measures it with the Consumer Prices Index: CPI rose by 3.5% in the 12 months to September 2026 (published on 21 October 2026). The Bank of England's target is 2%. A negative real return means your money now buys less than when you invested it.

What about fees?

Dealing charges paid when you bought go into the starting amount. Ongoing charges taken out of the fund are already reflected in the value at the end, so the return shown is after fees.

Investment return calculator