CAGR Calculator
Measure the compound annual growth rate between two investment values. Enter your initial value, final value and time period to find the true annualised return.
What is CAGR?
CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) is the rate at which an investment would have grown if it grew at a steady rate every year. It smooths out the volatility of year-to-year returns and gives a single number that represents the true annualised performance of an investment.
CAGR is useful for comparing investments of different durations — a fund that grew 150% over 8 years and one that grew 80% over 4 years can be meaningfully compared only after converting both to CAGR.
How to use the CAGR calculator
Enter three values: your starting investment value, the final value after the holding period, and the number of years. The calculator returns the CAGR as a percentage per year.
- Initial value — what you invested or what the portfolio was worth at the start.
- Final value — the current or exit value of the investment.
- Time period — the number of years between the two values.
The CAGR formula
The result is expressed as a decimal; multiply by 100 for a percentage. A CAGR of 0.12 means 12% per year.
A worked example
You invested 100,000 and it grew to 250,000 over 8 years.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Initial value | 100,000 |
| Final value | 250,000 |
| Years | 8 |
| CAGR | 12.1% p.a. |
The total gain is 150%, but expressed as CAGR it is 12.1% per year. This lets you directly compare this investment against any benchmark or alternative.