What is your actual annualised return across irregular investments?
money invested is negative, money received is positive
XIRR
0%
annualised, date-weighted
Total invested
₹0
Total received
₹0
Net gain
₹0
Absolute return
0%
ignoring timing
Period covered
0 years
See the full breakdown
Why XIRR and not CAGR
CAGR assumes one amount in and one amount out. The moment you invest in instalments or withdraw partway, it is wrong — it cannot tell that a rupee invested last month has not had the same time to work as one invested five years ago. XIRR weights every cashflow by its own date.
This is the number on your fund statement
XIRR is what AMCs and brokers report as your personal return, and it is almost always different from the fund's advertised return. The fund's number assumes you were invested for the whole period; yours reflects when you actually put money in.
Sign convention decides the answer
Investments must be negative and redemptions positive. Get the signs wrong and the solver either returns nonsense or fails to converge. If you are still holding, enter today's value as a final positive cashflow to see the return to date.
Illustration only. Enter investments as negative amounts and redemptions as positive; if you still hold the investment, enter today's value as a final positive cashflow to get the return to date. XIRR is solved by bisection on the net present value, the same definition spreadsheet XIRR functions use, so results should match Excel or Google Sheets to two decimal places. Returns are pre-tax and exclude brokerage and exit loads.
What is CAGR and how is it different from average return?
CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) is the single steady annual rate that would take your starting value to your ending value over the period, accounting for compounding. A simple average of yearly returns can be misleading -- a 50% gain followed by a 50% loss averages to 0%, but you'd actually be down 25%. CAGR reflects what actually happened to your money.Read more: Your Retirement Number Ignores the One Cost Growing Twice as Fast
Is SIP better than a lump sum investment?
Neither is universally better -- a SIP (spreading investment across regular installments) reduces the risk of investing everything right before a downturn and suits regular income, while a lump sum captures more time in the market if invested when prices are relatively low. For most people investing from salary, SIP is the practical default; a lump sum windfall is often still better invested promptly rather than staggered indefinitely.Read more: Your “Financial Advisor” Is Probably Just a Salesperson on Commission
How does compounding actually grow money over time?
Compounding means your returns start earning their own returns, not just your original investment. The effect is small in early years and accelerates sharply later -- which is why starting early matters more than almost any other single investing decision, even more than the exact return rate.Read more: SEBI’s SCORES Portal Promises a 21-Day Fix — Here’s What That Timeline Doesn’t Tell You
What's a realistic long-term return to assume for equity investments?
Long-term equity returns vary a great deal by market and period, and past performance never guarantees future results. Most long-term financial plans use a conservative, inflation-aware assumption rather than recent bull-market numbers -- this calculator lets you test your own assumption and see how sensitive the outcome is to it.Read more: Your Retirement Number Ignores the One Cost Growing Twice as Fast
Estimates only, not financial advice. See our Disclaimer.
