Avg Annual Return (% YTD)

Jan 19, 2017 3 Replies

Does anyone know how this is determined? I have a stock (CHW) that I own (754.223 shr) that has returned $52.50 a month for the last year and total return is $1315.49 since I bought it.. Cost basis is $6442.35. Quicken shows an annual return (%YTD) or 164.68 using one months return. I have several other investments with the same type of returns which I know are not correct but I can't determine on what basis Quicken is determining the YTD. R. Wink


Hi there! Did you read the half dozen of so HELP panels under the INVESTMENT PERFORMANCE section? There's a lot of detail in there. When you say "using only one month's return", not sure what that means and/or why it is relevant. Quicken needs a full year's returns to correctly calculate the IRR and usually flags securities with the dreaded asterisk indicating this in reports that I've seen.

Here's the definition in one as an example:

"Often called the internal rate of return (IRR), the average annual return is usually defined as a percentage equal to the interest rate on a bank account that would give you the same total return on your investment. It takes into account money earned by the investment (interest, dividends, capital gains distributions) as well as changes in share price. Because it is an annual rate, it acts like a bank interest rate that compounds annually. For example, if you invest $10,000 and get an average annual return of 12.0 percent over two years, you'll have $12,544 (an increase of $2544, or 25.4 percent) at the end of the two years.

Quicken displays the average annual return in the Investment Performance report and graph, in Portfolio columns, and in the Average Annual Return snapshot. A negative value indicates a loss, which can be either paper or real. If the return seems surprisingly high, it could be because you've set a short date range."

That's all well and good. However, this question is about YTD-1 month-return. Anyway you cut it, $52.50 for 1 month is not 164% return. If we were talking about longer term, I'd agree but we're not. R. Wink

That's all well and good. However, this question is about YTD-1 month-return. Anyway you cut it, $52.50 for 1 month is not 164% return. If we were talking about longer term, I'd agree but we're not. R. Wink

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As Andrew suggested, check Quicken Help. For investment terms, you can usually find their definition in the Quicken Glossary ... where you should find your Average Annual Return (%YTD) dilemma explained.

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