08 February 2005

Investing: Rate of Return

It occurred to me that I should probably fill in some missing pieces related to investing here at Political CalculationsTM. With that in mind, I've recently found it necessary to extract the annual rate of return from an investment, giving only its starting balance, ending balance, and time held (assuming annual compounding.) It's just the kind of thing you need to measure the long-term average performance of your investment, and here it is!


Investment Information
Input Data Values
Starting Balance ($USD)
Ending Balance ($USD)
Time Held (Years)




Average Rate of Return
Calculated Results Values
Annualized Rate (%)

If you're a real glutton for punishment, try replacing the numbers above with the appropriate data for your starting salary, current salary and the amount of time you've been working. (Editor's note: Political Calculations cannot be held accountable for damage to your computer from spitting out your beverage on it....)