Investment Return Calculator
Project an investment with real-world frictions like fees, tax and inflation, plus contributions and withdrawals. Compare two scenarios side by side. The advanced companion to our Compound Interest Calculator.
1Starting principal
2Return, time & compounding
% / yr
yrs
Compounding frequency
3ContributionsOptional
Frequency
Max 300
Timing
4Costs & inflation
%
%
%
5Annual withdrawalsOptional
6Compare a scenarioOptional
Projected balance after 25 yearsNominal
424,980
~ 229,230 in today's money after 2.5% inflation
Principal10,000
Contributions150,000
Interest264,980
Growth over time
PrincipalContributionsInterest
425k
319k
212k
106k
0
now5y10y15y20y25y
What reduced your returns
Before costs, your investment would reach 462,290. Fees, tax and inflation each take a cut; here is what is left in today's purchasing power.
Net, in today's money229,23050%
Lost to inflation195,75042%
Lost to fees37,3108%
Gross, before costs462,290100%
Fee and tax drag are the difference in final balance with and without each cost; inflation drag is the gap between the nominal balance and its value in today's money. Tax is modelled as an annual drag on gains.
After 25 years, the projected balance is 424,980. Adjusted for inflation, that is worth roughly 229,230 in today's money. Fees cost 37,310 and tax cost 0 in lost growth.
Year-by-year breakdown
The full path, one year at a time.
Each row is the year-end position: total invested, the gain sitting in the balance, any withdrawal taken, and the resulting balance.
YearInvestedInterestBalanceComposition
116,00085216,852
222,0002,16224,162
328,0003,96331,963
434,0006,28540,285
540,0009,16549,165
646,00012,64058,640
752,00016,74968,749
858,00021,53579,535
964,00027,04491,044
1070,00033,323103,323
1176,00040,425116,425
1282,00048,404130,404
1388,00057,320145,320
1494,00067,234161,234
15100,00078,214178,214
16106,00090,332196,332
17112,000103,662215,662
18118,000118,288236,288
19124,000134,294258,294
20130,000151,775281,775
21136,000170,828306,828
22142,000191,559333,559
23148,000214,080362,080
24154,000238,511392,511
25160,000264,980424,980
Returns compound at the chosen frequency; the annual fee is charged pro-rata on the balance each period and any positive net gain is taxed at the gains rate as an annual drag. Contributions are added at the start or end of each period; a fixed annual withdrawal is taken at year-end from the chosen start year. Inflation is used only to express the result in today's money. All figures assume a constant return and are illustrative, not financial advice.
How to use this calculator
Model a realistic investment plan in four steps.
1
Set principal, return and time
Start with what you have invested (prefilled from your accounts), the annual return you expect before costs, the years invested, and how often returns compound.
2
Add contributions
Pay in a fixed amount each period, at the start or end of the period, for as many periods as you plan to keep contributing.
3
Model the real-world drag
Add the annual fee you pay, an inflation rate, and a tax rate on gains. These quietly compound against you, and this tool shows exactly how much they cost.
4
Withdraw and compare
Optionally draw a fixed amount each year from a chosen start year, and run a second scenario with a different return or fee to see the gap side by side.
Key concepts
The forces acting on your returns.
Nominal vs real return
Nominal return is the headline growth; real return subtracts inflation to show the change in actual purchasing power. A 7% return with 2.5% inflation is only about 4.4% real, the number that tells you whether you are truly getting richer.
Expense ratio & fees
The annual percentage a fund or adviser charges on your balance. Because it is taken every year on the whole balance, a 1% fee can consume a quarter or more of your final wealth over decades, and it compounds against you exactly as returns compound for you.
Tax drag
The slowing effect of paying tax on gains as they accrue, rather than letting the full amount compound. Even a modest rate, applied yearly, meaningfully reduces the final balance versus a tax-sheltered account.
Inflation
The gradual erosion of money's purchasing power. It does not change the dollar figure your investment reaches, but it changes what those dollars can buy, which is why this tool also shows the result in today's money.
Safe withdrawal rate
A guideline for how much you can draw from a portfolio each year without exhausting it, often cited as around 4% of the starting balance. Use the withdrawal inputs to test whether a drawdown plan survives your time horizon.
Sequence-of-returns risk
The danger that poor returns early in a withdrawal phase do lasting damage, because you are selling assets while they are down. This calculator assumes a constant return, so treat it as a smooth-average illustration, not a stress test.
CAGR vs average annual return
The arithmetic average of yearly returns overstates what you actually earned whenever returns vary. Gaining 50% then losing 50% averages out to 0%, yet 10,000 becomes 7,500: a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about -13.4% a year. CAGR is the single steady rate that would produce the same end result, and it is exactly the kind of rate this calculator expects. When turning a fund's history into the return field, use its annualised return, never the average of the yearly figures.
Contribution timing: start or end of period
The timing toggle sets whether each contribution lands at the beginning of its period or the end. Paying at the start gives every deposit one extra period of growth, so the result is always slightly higher. The effect is real but modest: 500 a month at 7% compounded monthly over 25 years, ignoring fees and tax, ends near 407,400 with start-of-month timing versus about 405,000 with end-of-month, a gap of roughly 0.6%. The rate, the horizon and the amount all matter far more.
Tips for real-world returns
Get more of the growth into your own pocket.
Fees are the lever you control
You cannot guarantee returns, but you can choose low-cost funds. Run the comparison with a 0.2% vs 1% fee: the difference over decades is often staggering.
Always check the real number
A big nominal balance can be misleading. The 'in today's money' figure tells you what your future wealth actually buys at current prices.
Shelter gains from tax
Tax-advantaged accounts remove the annual tax drag entirely. Set the tax rate to 0% to see what tax-sheltered growth would look like versus a taxable account.
Be conservative with returns
Markets are uncertain. Modelling a cautious return and treating anything more as upside is safer than planning around an optimistic figure.
Test your drawdown
If you plan to live off the portfolio, set a withdrawal and a start year and check the balance still lasts. A plan that runs dry early needs a lower draw or a bigger pot.
Find your biggest drag
The breakdown bar shows what fees, tax and inflation each cost in money terms. Over long horizons inflation is often the largest single drag, but fees and tax are the ones you can actually control, so attack those first.
FAQ
How is this different from the compound interest calculator?+
The Compound Interest Calculator answers the clean question: how does money grow at a given rate? This one adds the real-world frictions (fees, tax, inflation, withdrawals) and lets you compare two scenarios. Use the simple one to build intuition, and this one to pressure-test an actual plan.
What is a realistic rate of return?+
It depends entirely on what you invest in. Broad stock-market averages have historically been roughly 7 to 10% nominal before inflation over long periods, but with large swings and no guarantee. Bonds and cash return less. The honest answer is that the future is unknown, so model a range rather than betting on one number.
How does the calculator apply tax?+
It applies tax as an annual drag: each period, any positive net gain is taxed at the rate you set, so less is left to compound. This approximates a taxable account where gains are taxed as they accrue. Tax-advantaged accounts are closer to a 0% setting. It is a simplification; real tax treatment varies by account, country and asset.
Why show the result in today's money?+
Because inflation erodes what a dollar buys. A portfolio worth 1,000,000 in 30 years will not buy what 1,000,000 buys now. The real (inflation-adjusted) figure converts the future balance into today's purchasing power, which is usually the number that actually matters for planning.
How do fees do so much damage?+
A fee is charged on your entire balance every year, including all the growth you have accumulated. So as your pot gets larger, the fee in dollar terms grows too, and every dollar taken in fees is a dollar that stops compounding. Over decades, a one-percentage-point difference in fees routinely costs a large share of the final balance.
Are these projections guaranteed?+
No. The calculator assumes a single, constant annual return. Real returns vary year to year and can be negative, and the order in which they arrive matters, especially while withdrawing. Treat the output as a smooth illustration of the mechanics, not a forecast of a specific outcome.
How do I calculate my real return?+
Divide rather than subtract: real return equals (1 + nominal) divided by (1 + inflation), minus 1. With a 7% return and 2.5% inflation that is 1.07 divided by 1.025, minus 1, about 4.39%, slightly less than the 4.5% quick subtraction suggests, and the gap widens as inflation rises. This calculator applies the same logic to the end result: it divides the final balance by cumulative inflation over the whole horizon to produce the today's-money figure.
What is a good expense ratio?+
Broad index funds and ETFs commonly charge 0.03% to 0.25% a year, which is the benchmark to aim for. Actively managed funds often charge 0.5% to 1.5%, and advisers may add their own layer on top. There is no precise cutoff, but above roughly 1% in total, a fund needs to beat the market consistently just to match a cheap tracker. Enter your all-in figure in the fee field to see its long-term cost.
What if inflation is higher than my return?+
Then you are losing purchasing power even while the balance grows. Cash earning 1% with 3% inflation turns 10,000 into about 12,200 nominal after 20 years, but only around 6,800 in today's money, a loss of roughly a third of its buying power. Try it above: set the return below the inflation rate and watch the real figure fall below what you put in. It is the strongest argument against holding long-term savings entirely in cash.
Why does my broker report a different return than this calculator?+
Brokers usually report either a time-weighted return, which measures the investments themselves and ignores when you added money, or a money-weighted return, which is affected by the timing of your deposits and withdrawals. Neither matches a simple gain-divided-by-total-paid-in calculation, and a lucky or unlucky deposit date can swing the money-weighted figure noticeably. This calculator assumes one constant rate, so treat it as a planning model, not a performance report.
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Returns compound at the chosen frequency on the running balance. The annual fee is charged pro-rata each period; positive net gains are taxed at the set rate as annual drag. Contributions are added at the chosen timing; annual withdrawals are taken at year-end. Inflation is applied to express the result in today's money. Assumes a constant annual return of 7% and is illustrative. Not financial advice.
Standard future-value modelling with fees, tax & inflation. Illustrative, not financial advice.