Investment Return Calculator
What this investment return calculator does: it projects what an investment could grow to at an assumed rate, after fund fees, tax on gains, and inflation. Three tabs:
1. Lump Sum: one investment’s final value, gain, CAGR, and value in today’s money
2. SIP / Monthly: the same for a fixed monthly amount, with an optional yearly step-up
3. Compare: up to four investments side by side at different assumed rates
4. What Fund Fees Cost You: the dollars an expense ratio removes over the period, using the approach in the SEC’s Investor.gov fee examples
Free, no sign-up. Your numbers stay in your browser. Projections use a steady rate; real returns rise and fall and can be negative. Educational only, not investment advice.
Lump-sum and monthly investing growth, side-by-side comparison, and what fund fees cost over time
Method & example: SEC Investor.gov — a 1% fee vs 0.25% on $100k at 4% over 20 years costs nearly $30,000.
How to use the investment return calculator
1. Pick your currency and start month, then select a tab: Lump Sum, SIP / Monthly, or Compare.
2. Lump Sum: enter the Initial Investment, Annual Return Rate, Investment Period, and Compounding Frequency.
3. SIP / Monthly: enter the Monthly SIP Amount, Expected Annual Return, Investment Period, and an optional Annual Step-Up Rate.
4. On either tab, add a Fund Fee (Expense Ratio) from the fund’s prospectus, an Inflation Rate, and a Tax on Returns rate if you want after-tax figures.
5. Compare: set one Investment Period, then a Name, Amount, and Annual Rate for up to four options.
6. Results update as you type. Open View Growth Schedule & Graph for year-by-year detail, and save with Copy Summary, Export CSV, Export PDF, or Copy Shareable Link.
How to read your results
| Result | What it means |
|---|---|
| Final Value | The projected balance after fees and after the tax rate you entered. |
| Total Returns / Absolute Gain | Growth after fees and tax in dollars, and the total gain as a percentage of what you put in. |
| CAGR | Compound annual growth rate: the steady yearly rate that turns the starting amount into the final value (after fees, before tax). |
| Real Value | The final value in today’s money, after the inflation rate you entered. |
| Wealth Multiple | Final value ÷ amount invested. |
| What Fund Fees Cost You | The final value with no fee minus the final value with your fee. With 0% entered, it shows what a 1% fee would cost, for scale. |
Worked example: $25,000 for 20 years
Here’s one example run through the Lump Sum tab: $25,000 invested, a 7% assumed annual return compounded monthly, a 0.5% fund fee, 20 years, 15% tax on gains, and 2.5% inflation.
| Result | Figure |
|---|---|
| Value after fees, before tax | $91,411 |
| Tax on the $66,411 gain | $9,962 |
| Final value after fees and tax | $81,449 (3.26x) |
| In today’s money | $49,706 |
| CAGR (after fees, before tax) | 6.70% |
| What the 0.5% fee costs | $9,557 ($100,968 with no fee) |
| What a 1% fee would cost | $18,213 |
🧮 How this was calculated
- Net rate after the fee: 7% − 0.5% = 6.5%. Month 1 growth: $25,000 × 6.5% ÷ 12 = $135.42
- After 240 months: $25,000 × (1 + 0.065 ÷ 12)240 = $91,411. Gain: $91,411 − $25,000 = $66,411
- Tax: $66,411 × 15% = $9,962. Final value: $91,411 − $9,962 = $81,449
- Fee cost: with no fee, $25,000 × (1 + 0.07 ÷ 12)240 = $100,968; $100,968 − $91,411 = $9,557
- Today’s money: $81,449 ÷ 1.02520 = $49,706
Assumptions: the same return every year · fee taken out of the return · tax paid once on the total gain at the end · no withdrawals.
On the SIP / Monthly tab, $300 a month for 20 years at the same 7% return and 0.5% fee grows to about $147,923 before tax, from $72,000 invested. The fee costs $9,266 over that time.
Example figures are illustrative, not averages or statistics.
Methodology and sources
1. Lump Sum: P × (1 + (rate − fee) ÷ n)n × years, where n is the compounding frequency.
2. SIP / Monthly: each month’s amount is added at the start of the month and grows at (rate − fee) ÷ 12; with a step-up, the monthly amount rises once a year.
3. Fees: the SEC’s Investor.gov shows that a $100,000 portfolio earning 4% a year for 20 years ends nearly $30,000 lower with a 1% annual fee than with a 0.25% fee: $100,000 × 1.037520 = $208,815 vs $100,000 × 1.0320 = $180,611, a $28,204 difference. The calculator applies the same idea to your inputs.
4. Tax: one flat rate on the total gain at the end. Real tax depends on account type, holding period, and income; dividends may be taxed each year.
5. Compare: lump sums only, at the rates you enter. It ranks by final value and does not measure risk.
6. Not included: market swings, sales loads, advisory fees, and trading costs.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is a good rate of return on an investment?
Ans: Historically, the stock market has returned an average of about 7% to 10% per year before inflation. Safer investments offer lower returns but carry significantly less risk.
2. What is a good rate of return to use?
Ans: There’s no single answer, because future returns are unknown and depend on what you invest in. Cash and CDs pay roughly their stated rates; stocks have varied widely from year to year. Running the calculator at a low, middle, and high rate shows how much the result depends on that assumption.
3. What is the difference between total return and CAGR?
Ans: Total return is the whole gain as a percentage of what you put in: $66,411 on $25,000 is 265.6%. CAGR spreads that over the years as a steady yearly rate: 6.70% a year for 20 years produces the same result.
4. How much do fund fees really cost?
Ans: More than the small percentage suggests, because the fee is taken every year and the money removed can’t compound. In the example, a 0.5% fee costs $9,557 over 20 years on $25,000. The SEC’s Investor.gov shows a similar effect in its own examples.
5. How does inflation affect investment returns?
Ans: Inflation lowers what the final amount can buy. In the example, $81,449 in 20 years at 2.5% inflation buys about what $49,706 buys today. The Real Value figure shows this for your inputs.
6. What is a SIP?
Ans: A systematic investment plan: investing a fixed amount on a regular schedule, usually monthly. In the US this is often done through automatic 401(k) contributions or recurring purchases in a brokerage account.
7. Does the calculator account for market ups and downs?
Ans: No. It uses a steady rate every year, which real markets don’t deliver. Two investments with the same average return can end at different values depending on the order of good and bad years.
Kevin Brown researches personal finance topics using official sources; he is not a licensed financial advisor or mortgage lender. Last reviewed: October 2026.
