XIRR calculator
What the investment is worth today, or what you received.
Money you paid in is negative. Money you received, and the current value, are positive. This is the mode for irregular investing, top-ups and partial withdrawals.
- Total invested
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- Maturity value
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- Net gain
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- Absolute return
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- Invested
- Gain
What XIRR is, and why it beats absolute return
Absolute return tells you how much you made. XIRR tells you how hard your money worked to make it — the single annual rate that, applied to each amount for exactly as long as it was invested, produces the result you actually got.
The gap matters most for instalment investing. A SIP running three years does not have three years of money at work: the first instalment does, the last was invested for days. Absolute return divides total gain by total invested and ignores that entirely, which is why it usually understates a SIP badly.
Sum of [ amount ÷ (1 + XIRR) ^ (days ÷ 365) ] = 0
XIRR or CAGR — which should you use?
CAGR works when there is one investment and one final value. Put money in once, take it out once, and CAGR answers the question exactly.
The moment there is a second transaction — a monthly instalment, a top-up, a partial withdrawal — CAGR has no way to account for when each amount arrived. XIRR does, which is why it is the right measure for SIPs, SWPs and any portfolio you have added to over time.
Calculating XIRR in a spreadsheet
Put every transaction in one column, dates alongside in another. Investments are negative, redemptions positive, and the last row holds today's value with today's date. Then use =XIRR(values, dates).
This calculator follows the same convention, including the 365-day year, so the figures agree with Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice.
Where the number can mislead
XIRR annualises, so short periods produce dramatic figures. Nine percent earned in a month annualises to roughly 180% — arithmetically correct, practically meaningless, because nothing guarantees the next eleven months repeat it. Treat anything under a year as indicative only.
The result is also only as good as the maturity value you enter. Using a peak valuation rather than today's flatters the figure, and the calculator cannot tell the difference.
This is an educational tool, not financial advice. Past returns, however they are measured, do not indicate future ones.