ROI Calculator

Return on investment answers a blunt question: for every dollar I put in, how many came back? Subtract the cost from the return to get the net profit, divide by the cost, and you have a percentage that works across completely different opportunities — a stock, a machine, an advert, a course.

The strength of ROI is comparability. A fifty per cent return on a marketing campaign and a fifty per cent return on a stock are the same number, so you can line up very different bets and rank them. The weakness is that the single percentage erases time. Fifty per cent over six months is excellent; fifty per cent over ten years is mediocre, because a boring savings account might have done better without the risk.

That is why this calculator also shows the annualised figure. Spreading the return across the holding period reveals the true speed of the money, and it plugs the biggest hole in a raw ROI. Whenever you compare ROI figures, ask over what period each was earned.

ROI also ignores risk, which is the part that trips people up. A ninety per cent ROI that had a real chance of losing everything is not obviously better than a modest one that was nearly certain. And a positive ROI on a project can still be worse than the alternative use of the same cash — the money you did not earn is a cost too, even though it never appears on an invoice.

Use ROI as one lens among several: it tells you the size of the win, not the odds or the timeline. Combine it with the annualised rate and a clear-eyed view of the downside before committing capital. This tool provides estimates for information, not financial advice.

This calculator returns estimates for general information only. It is not financial, investment, tax or legal advice, and it cannot replace guidance from a qualified professional who knows your circumstances. Figures such as loan payments, investment growth and retirement projections are simplified models based on the inputs and assumptions you provide, not guarantees of future results.