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Project your personal investment portfolio’s total value over time. Break results into invested capital, simple interest, compound interest and year by year growth. For project or marketing ROI use a business calculator instead.
Return on investment equals the ending value minus the cost, divided by the cost, then expressed as a percentage. An investment bought for $5,000 and sold for $6,500 makes $1,500, which is an ROI of 30%. The free StockEducation ROI Calculator works out net profit and percentage return from the amount invested and the ending value or sale proceeds, including costs you enter. ROI does not consider time. A 30% return over eight months and a 30% return over eight years look identical in ROI, so compare CAGR when holding periods differ.
Enter your time period, return rate, starting amount, and contributions to project your total value.
General education only — check the assumptions before using the result.
Purpose: This calculator is a general educational tool that performs a numerical calculation from the values you enter. It does not recommend, advertise or promote a specific financial product.
Assumptions: The calculation uses the input values and assumptions displayed in the calculator. Default values are illustrative starting points, not forecasts. Change each non-statutory assumption so it matches the scenario you want to test.
Limitations: Actual market returns, prices, dividends, interest rates, fees, tax, inflation and timing may differ from the assumptions. The calculator may omit factors relevant to you. Small input changes can materially change the result, so the output is an illustration rather than a prediction.
This financial calculator is not intended to be relied on for the purposes of making a decision in relation to a financial product. You should consider obtaining advice from a financial services licensee before making any financial decisions.
You can print this page or save it electronically using your browser controls. See ASIC Instrument 2026/41 for the conditions applying to generic financial calculators.
Disclaimer · Terms of Use
Educational content only. Projections assume a constant annual return and do not account for taxes, fees, inflation, or variable market returns. Use this as a planning guide, not a guaranteed forecast.
A $100,000 initial investment plus $1,000 monthly at 7% over 10 years grows to about $374,051, of which $220,000 is your invested capital and $154,051 is investment gains. The investment growth calculator separates total return into invested capital, simple interest and compound interest so you can see exactly where the growth came from.
Decompose total return into simple interest, compound interest and contributions.
Starting capital and expected annual return rate.
Optional regular contribution amount and how often (monthly, quarterly, yearly).
The result shows Total Investment Fund, Invested Capital, Simple Interest and Compound Interest cards, an Annual Investment Returns chart, a Summary table, and a Year-by-Year Breakdown. The compound portion is the value of reinvestment — the longer the horizon, the larger that slice becomes versus the simple interest slice.
A four-stage written walkthrough — the chapters a video would cover, available now in text.
Four chapters covering inputs, outputs and the common mistakes to avoid.
4 min watch. Auto captions available. Walkthrough chapters listed above.
Specific outcomes, not generic claims.
Most calculators show one number. ROI splits it into capital, simple interest and compound interest so you can see what each component contributed.
The compound interest portion is the value of reinvestment. For long horizons it dominates; for short horizons it is marginal.
See the trajectory, not just the endpoint. Useful for planning withdrawals or projecting milestones.
Most calculators hide the formula. We show it because understanding the math is the point.
Future value with regular contributions, decomposed into invested capital, simple interest and compound interest.
Total
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PMT
Invested
The projection is a mathematical model, not a forecast. Six assumptions baked into the math, plus what real outcomes look like.
Each card pairs an assumption the calculator makes with what real world investing actually looks like.
Reality: Real returns vary year to year. The smooth projection is an average, not a sequence.
Reality: Real contributions face settlement delays of 1 to 3 days, marginal impact.
Reality: Taxable account returns are reduced by tax on dividends and capital gains.
Reality: Fund expense ratios and platform fees compound to material drag over long horizons.
Reality: Real investments compound from day one; the split is an educational decomposition.
Reality: The result is in nominal dollars. Subtract inflation for real ROI.
Same base scenario, one variable changed at a time. The projection is highly sensitive to small changes.
The calculator assumes a smooth return every year. Here is how that compares to verified historical data.
Written by Dr. Charles Lo, Associate Professor, CPA. Reviewed annually.
This tool projects future investment growth with monthly compounding. It is not a classic transaction ROI calculator. Classic ROI measures total gain relative to cost: (ending value − cost) ÷ cost. The tool also reports total return percentage by comparing projected gains with all capital contributed.
ROI percentage is most useful when compared with the annualised CAGR for the same investment. A 70% ROI over 10 years is the same investment quality as a 70% ROI over 5 years only in absolute dollar terms; on an annualised basis the second is dramatically better.
Splitting total return into simple interest and compound interest is a useful educational decomposition. Simple interest is what you would earn without reinvestment. Compound interest is the value of letting earnings earn their own returns. For long horizons compound interest typically exceeds simple interest by a meaningful margin.
Use historical average return for your asset class. For diversified equity, 7 to 10% nominal is defensible. For bonds, 4 to 5%. For balanced portfolios, 6 to 7%.
Subtract fees (typically 0.05% to 1% per year for funds and ETFs) from your assumed gross rate to get a net rate for planning.
Read four numbers: total value, invested capital, simple interest portion, compound interest portion. The compound portion tells you how much the reinvestment of earnings added beyond what simple interest would deliver.
Compare total ROI percentage against a benchmark for the same period. If your 10 year ROI is materially below the S&P 500’s 10 year return, you have either chosen a weaker investment or paid too much in fees.
Real numbers calculated from the same formula as the live tool. Every figure below is verified, not approximated.
$100k initial, $1k monthly, 7% return, 10 years
A typical multi year investor with steady contributions on a diversified portfolio.
Same inputs, 5 years instead of 10
Halving the time horizon to see how much compounding adds in the second half.
Same inputs, 20 years
Full career length hold to demonstrate the compounding effect on long horizons.
$100k initial, $1k monthly, 4% return, 10 years
Bond heavy or cash heavy portfolio with much lower expected return.
$100k initial, $1k monthly, 10% return, 10 years
Optimistic equity heavy portfolio modelling the best case of long run equity returns.
The questions users most often ask about calculator output.
Yes. Free to use, no signup. Your inputs are not stored or shared.
ROI is total percentage gain over the entire holding period. CAGR is the annualised rate. A 70% ROI over 10 years is a 5.5% CAGR. Use ROI for total view, CAGR for fair comparison across periods.
Match to portfolio mix: 7 to 10% nominal for equity heavy, 5 to 6% for 60/40, 4 to 5% for bond heavy. Lower if you want margin of safety.
Simple interest is what you would earn without reinvestment. Compound interest is the additional return from letting earnings earn their own returns. For long horizons compound interest is the bigger portion.
No. Use a gross return assumption. For taxable accounts, real after tax ROI is typically 1.5 to 2 percentage points lower than the gross figure shown.
The calculator shows nominal ROI. For real ROI, use a real return rate (nominal minus inflation) or divide nominal result by cumulative inflation.
Both use the same math. ROI focuses on the return decomposition (capital vs interest). Compound interest focuses on the year by year balance growth.
The calculator assumes positive returns. For investments that lost money, the ROI is negative (gain is below zero) and the simple/compound split does not apply.
Other tools for different parts of your financial picture.
The calculator uses the standard future value of annuity formula with return decomposition. Historical asset class returns referenced from NYU Stern and similar primary sources.
This calculator is provided for general educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial product advice. Past performance and assumed return rates are not a reliable indicator of future results. Consult a licensed financial adviser before relying on this for material financial decisions.
This calculator gives you the number. Our free courses teach you the why behind the math, the assumptions to question, and how to apply it to your own portfolio.
Enter time period, return rate, initial investment and contributions. See total value, invested capital, simple and compound interest broken out separately.
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I can explain how investing works. I cannot tell you what to buy or what is right for your situation.
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