Return on investment is the gain divided by everything that had to be paid to get it. It answers a simple question: for each dollar put in, how much came back? The same gain can look very different depending on whether it took one year or twenty to arrive.
Profit on $10,000 invested
$4,500.00
$10,000 in, worth $14,500 now
Return on investment compares the gain with everything paid to get it, including fees and every later top-up.
| Price move | Value at exit | Profit or loss | ROI | Annualised |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -30% | $10,150 | $150 | 1.5% | 0.3% |
| -20% | $11,600 | $1,600 | 16% | 3.01% |
| -10% | $13,050 | $3,050 | 30.5% | 5.47% |
| Unchanged | $14,500 | $4,500 | 45% | 7.71% |
| +10% | $15,950 | $5,950 | 59.5% | 9.79% |
| +20% | $17,400 | $7,400 | 74% | 11.71% |
| +30% | $18,850 | $8,850 | 88.5% | 13.52% |
A position that has not been sold has not returned anything yet: these rows are what the same holding would show if the price moved before you sold.
| Holding period | Annualised return | Value per $1,000 invested |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 45% | $1,450.00 |
| 3 years | 13.19% | $1,450.00 |
| 5 years | 7.71% | $1,450.00 |
| 10 years | 3.79% | $1,450.00 |
| 20 years | 1.88% | $1,450.00 |
A 45% total return is remarkable in one year and ordinary spread over twenty, which is why the annualised figure is the one to compare.
This calculator takes the amount invested, anything added later, the fees paid, the income already received and the current or selling value, then reports the total return, the annualised rate and a table of what the position would show at other exit prices.
ROI = (final value + income received − initial amount − later additions − fees) ÷ (initial amount + later additions + fees) × 100.
Everything paid counts as invested, which is why a commission belongs in the cost basis instead of being netted off the outcome. A 1% fee on a 10% gain is not a rounding error: it takes a tenth of the return.
A 45% gain is a 45% ROI whenever it happened, but it is 7.71% a year over five years and 3.79% a year over ten. Comparing two investments by total return alone rewards whichever one was held longer, so the annualised figure (the compound rate, sometimes written CAGR) is the honest comparison.
The annualised number also exposes small differences over long periods. Two portfolios five percentage points apart in total return are much closer than they look: over five years that is about a percentage point a year.
Tax on the gain is not calculated, because it depends on the account type, the holding period and the bracket. If you want the after-tax figure, enter the post-tax proceeds as the current value.
Risk is not captured either. A 20% return that was guaranteed and a 20% return that could have lost half the money are not the same result, and no single ratio separates them.
Each example below was run through the calculator on this page when the site was built, so the numbers match what you see when you enter the same inputs.
Profit on $10,000 invested
$4,500.00
$10,000 in, worth $14,500 now
A 45% total return is 7.71% a year compounded, which is the figure to compare with an index fund or a savings rate.
Profit on $30,025 invested
$2,775.00
$30,000 in, $25 of fees, worth $31,000 now, plus $1,800 received
The $1,800 of dividends counts towards the return even though the share price barely moved, and the $25 of fees is added to the cost basis rather than deducted from the gain.
Loss on $8,020 invested
-$2,700.00
$8,000 in, $20 of fees, worth $5,200 now, plus $120 received
The return is negative but smaller than the price fall suggests, because the income received and the fees both count in the sum: the price fell 35% while the return is about −34%.
It depends on the risk and the horizon. A broad stock market index has returned roughly 7% to 10% a year before inflation over long periods, a savings account pays a fraction of that with almost no risk, and anything promising a large monthly return is either leveraged or a scam. Judge the return against the alternative you could have held instead, not against zero.
Use annualised return to compare two investments of different lengths, and total return to see what actually happened to your money. The table above shows both for the same position so the difference is visible: the same total return is a modest annual rate once the period is long.
Yes. Total return includes price change plus income, and for many holdings the income is most of the result. Enter what you received in cash, not what was reinvested, and add reinvested dividends to the current value instead.
Fees are added to the money invested, so they reduce the return exactly like a smaller gain would. A 1% fee on a portfolio earning 8% costs around 12% of the return over a decade and much more over a lifetime, because the money that paid the fee never compounds.
Yes, and the calculator reports it that way: a negative figure is the share of the money that did not come back. A −100% return means the whole investment was lost, which is the floor for a long position.
No. Enter the after-tax proceeds to see a net figure, and remember that a 7% return with 2.5% inflation is about 4.4% in real purchasing power. The compound interest calculator on this site shows that restatement explicitly.
Last reviewed 2026-09-14. This page is an estimate tool, not financial, tax or legal advice.Read the full disclaimer.