“I doubled my money” sounds impressive until you ask the obvious question: over how long? A return only means something once you know the time it took. That is the difference between total return and annualized return — and it is the difference between hype and a fair comparison.
TL;DR — Enter what you invested, what it’s worth, and how long you held it in the investment return calculator to see profit, total return and CAGR.
Total return vs. annualized return
Total return is the whole gain over the period: turn $1,000 into $2,000 and that is a 100% total return, whether it took one year or twenty. Annualized return, or CAGR, spreads that gain across each year, accounting for compounding. That same 100% gain is about 72% a year if it happened in one year — and only about 7% a year if it took ten.
Why CAGR is the honest number
Because investments are held for different lengths of time, total return alone is misleading. CAGR puts everything on a per-year basis, so you can compare a stock you held for three years against a fund you held for eight. When someone quotes a big headline gain, asking for the annualized figure cuts through it instantly.
Use it to compare, not to predict
CAGR describes what already happened — it smooths a bumpy ride into one tidy rate, and it says nothing about the future. Use it to weigh past investments fairly, then make forward decisions on their own merits. Run your figures in the investment return calculator to see the profit, total return and annualized rate together.