i What this calculator does
This calculator works out the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of any investment, the single steady annual growth rate that would take you from your starting value to your ending value over the period.
Enter your starting value, ending value, and the number of years, and the calculator returns your CAGR as a percentage, useful alongside our Kelly Criterion and other performance tools.
This calculator is for educational purposes only and assumes no deposits or withdrawals during the period. Not financial advice.
How to use the CAGR Calculator
Every field starts with a sensible default, so a result appears before you change anything at all.
- 1. Starting Value (R)
- 2. Ending Value (R)
- 3. Number of Years
The result panel reports:
- CAGR Compound annual growth rate
- Total Return Over the full period
- Period Investment duration
Alongside the headline figures, the calculator reports cagr, total return, absolute gain, period. Those are the numbers that usually explain why the headline result came out where it did.
The steps that produced the number are listed below it, which is what makes the output verifiable.
One caution worth stating. A calculator answers exactly the question you pose to it, and the quality of the answer is set entirely by the inputs. Figures taken from a single period, an optimistic forecast, or a sample too small to be meaningful will produce a precise number that is not a reliable one. Where the result will inform a real decision, run it at several plausible inputs and treat the spread as the answer rather than any single figure.
The same applies to comparisons. A figure is informative against a benchmark, a sector average or the same measure over the company's own history, and much less so on its own. That context is what turns a number into a judgement.
The value in a calculation like this is less the figure than the sensitivity. Move each input in turn and the one that shifts the answer most is the one worth being careful about.
See also: Bond vs Invest Calculator.
Frequently asked questions
What's a good CAGR for a trading account?
This varies enormously by strategy and risk level, conservative, sustainable long-term figures are often in the low double digits annually, be genuinely skeptical of any strategy claiming to consistently produce very high CAGR, since this typically implies either unusual skill or unsustainable risk.
How is CAGR different from simply averaging annual returns?
CAGR accounts for compounding, giving the single steady annual rate that would take you from your starting value to your ending value, a simple average of yearly returns can be meaningfully misleading, especially with volatile year-to-year results.
Does CAGR account for deposits or withdrawals during the period?
No, this calculator assumes a single starting value and single ending value with no additional deposits or withdrawals in between, if you added or removed capital during the period, the resulting CAGR won't accurately reflect your true investment performance.
Can CAGR be negative?
Yes, if your ending value is lower than your starting value, the calculator will return a negative CAGR, representing the annualised rate of decline over the period.
Is CAGR the same as annualised return used in fund fact sheets?
They're calculated using the same underlying formula, CAGR is often the specific term used for calculating this figure between two known values, while 'annualised return' is a broader term sometimes calculated slightly differently depending on the data available.
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