- Years
- The number of years you wish to analyze. This can be any number
from one to one hundred.
- Rate of return
- This is the annually compounded rate of return you expect
from your investments before taxes. The actual rate of return is largely
dependant on the type of investments you select. For example, from January 1970
to February 2003, the average compounded rate of return for the S&P 500,
including reinvestment of dividends, was approximately 11%. Savings accounts at
a bank pay as little as 1% or less. It is important to remember that future
rates of return can't be predicted with certainty and that investments that pay
higher rates of return are subject to higher risk and volatility. The actual
rate of return on investments can vary widely over time, especially for
long-term investments. This includes the potential loss of principal on your
investment.
- Compound Interest
- Interest on an investment's interest, plus previous
interest. The more frequently this occurs, the sooner your accumulated interest
will generate additional interest. You should check with your financial
institution to find out how often interest is being compounded on your
particular investment.
- Initial investment
- Total you currently have invested that should be
included in this analysis.
- Inflation rate
- What you expect for the average long-term inflation rate.
- Annual investments
- The amount you will contribute each year to your
investments. If you check the box to adjust this amount for inflation, your
annual investment will increase each year by the inflation rate.
- Tax rate
- The percentage of your investment return you will pay in taxes.
Your taxes are assumed to be payable annually, at the end of the year.
- Compounded interest return
- Total after-tax return if your investment
profit is compounded annually.
- Simple interest return
- Total after-tax return if your investment profit
is simple interest with no compounding.
- Total invested capital
- Total you have invested. This includes your
initial investment and all periodic investments.
- Investment final total
-
Your investments total ending value. If you have checked the box to show values
after inflation, this amount is the total value of your investment in today's
dollars. If this box is unchecked, it will show the actual value of the
investment.
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