Loading page
About this tool
Convert a total gain percentage into an annualised (CAGR) rate and back again for any holding period in years, months or days.
The Absolute vs Annualised Return Converter moves between absolute return — the total percentage gain across a whole holding period — and annualised return, the compounded yearly rate that produces it, using the identity 1 + absolute = (1 + annualised)^years. Enter either figure with a period in years, months or days and get the other, plus the growth multiple and the naive total-divided-by-years average for comparison. It exists because fund factsheets quote absolute returns under one year and annualised returns above it, which makes side-by-side comparison misleading.
Open Absolute vs Annualised Return Converter on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Pick a Direction — "Absolute → annualised" or "Annualised → absolute" — and type the figure into the field that appears, either "Absolute (total) return over the whole period (%)" or "Annualised return (% per year)".
Enter the Holding period and set "Period unit" to Years, Months or Days; optionally fill "Optional: amount invested (INR) to see the result in money".
The headline gives the converted rate, and the list adds the growth multiple, the simple average per year, how many percentage points that shortcut overstates by, years to double, and a table of the same rate over other horizons; "Copy result" copies the summary.
Uses geometric compounding, so the annualised rate really does rebuild the total gain.
Accepts years, months or days, converting days at the mean Gregorian year of 365.2425 days.
Prints the gap in percentage points between the true rate and the total-divided-by-years shortcut.
Add 1 to the absolute return as a decimal, raise it to the power of 1 divided by the number of years, then subtract 1. A 100% total gain over 5 years becomes (2)^(1/5) − 1 = 14.87% a year, not 20%.
Because annualising a few months of performance projects a short run onto a full year and exaggerates it. Indian fund disclosure convention is to show point-to-point absolute returns below one year and CAGR at one year and above.
For a single lump sum held over one continuous period, yes — annualised return and CAGR are the same geometric calculation. They differ from XIRR, which handles multiple cash flows on different dates.
The annualised rate, provided both are measured over the same length of period. Comparing one fund's 3-year annualised return with another's 10-year annualised return still compares different market conditions, so match the windows where you can.
Add the Absolute vs Annualised Return Converter widget to your blog or website — free, responsive, no signup. Just keep the “Widget by AltFTool” credit link visible.
<iframe src="https://www.altftool.com/embed/widget/absolute-vs-annualised-return"
title="Absolute vs Annualised Return Converter — free AltFTool widget"
width="100%" height="640" style="border:0;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden"
loading="lazy" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" allow="clipboard-write"></iframe>
<p style="font-size:12px;margin:4px 0 0">Widget by <a href="https://www.altftool.com/tools/all/absolute-vs-annualised-return?utm_source=embed&utm_medium=widget" rel="nofollow">AltFTool — free online tools</a></p>