Investing term
What is Total return?
The full return from an investment — price change plus any income (dividends, interest) it paid.
Total return is the complete return from an investment — the price change plus any income it paid, like dividends or interest. Looking only at price understates how much you actually earned, since reinvested dividends compound into a large share of long-run stock returns. Total return is the honest, full-picture measure of performance.
For example
A stock that rises 5% and pays a 3% dividend delivered an 8% total return — judging it on price alone would have missed over a third of the gain.
Total return is taught hands-on in Stage 4 — Stocks, Bonds, Cash & Alternatives.
See the lesson →