Chris Duncan

Calculating your Rate of Return for IRA Funds



Posted: Friday, April 30, 2010

by Chris Duncan
Jumbo CD Investments, Inc.

After reviewing your IRA holdings, you would like an easy way to determine its rate of return. After you know the return, you can compare to other IRA investment opportunities and see if it makes sense to change. Here are some fairly easy methods to do so.

The basic rate of return or ROR is like this: (Current value - Initial Investment)/Initial Investment. If you started with $50,000 and it is now $65,000, you've made $15,000. You calculate your rate of like this: $15,000/$50,000 and you've made 30%. Now, pat yourself on the back because that seems pretty good. But, you aren't quite done yet. You need to turn that into an Annual Rate of Return or Average Annual Rate. Simply divide the ROR by the length of your investment in years. So if you earned the $15,000 over the last 55-months you would divide the ROR by 55/12 or 4.583. Your Average Annual Rate would be 6.55%. If you escaped the last few years with a return like that, you should be feeling pretty good.

Now, we still aren't quite done yet. If this weren't an IRA we would need to figure out taxes and such for a truer rate. However, since it is an IRA we at least don't have to worry about that. Of course I'm also assuming that you aren't taking distributions, yet. The next part of our equation is figuring in our acquisition costs. Did you have pay anybody or anything for access to the investments that you are in? If your dealing with mutual funds, the management fees are usually already accounted for. Although, you still want to pay attention to them. Because if the fees are high, you can probably do better and increasing your earnings. But let's say over the time period you paid $500. Our new equation is: ([Current Value - Cost - Initial Investment] / Initial Investment) / Investment Time Frame in Years. Our new value is 6.48%.

Keep in mind that the average rate of return is not the same as an APY (annual percentage yield) or APR (annual percentage rate). The differences may be minor, but just use the ROR as a guide to determine if you currently have the right mix. Furthermore, the above doesn't take into account any fees you may have paid. Of course this article can help with that, too.

If we take our Average Annual Rate before the fee and plug that into a interest earned calculation, you'll find that the fee cost you about $669. It turns out be about 29 Basis points or 0.29% and a closer estimation of your annual average rate is 6.26%. The difference is the second equation doesn't take the time value of money into account and this last one does.

Chris Duncan is a FINRA Registered Representative. He works for Jumbo CD Investments, Inc., a leading CD placement and research firm.  He specializes in helping clients find the  best CD rates nationwide. His clients include individuals, financial institutions, corporations, and public agencies. Visit us for Best IRA CD Rates.
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