The purpose of the Investment Returns tool is to illustrate how things like inflation, taxes, the length of the investment, and the economic climate can impact the return of an investment.

To use this tool you will need to enter the number of years you plan to hold onto an investment product, the expected rate of return, your initial investment amount, your annual investment amount, the current inflation rate and your current tax rate for investments. After entering these amounts click on "calculate." This will produce a graph. If you want a detailed view of your investment scenario you will need to click on the "view report" button.

Investment Returns Calculator Overview

Investing is a complicated process. You need to understand how the various investment products work, what their risk level is and what style of investing you are comfortable with. You also need to take into consideration taxes, inflation, fees and the health of the economy. If you aren't familiar with investing, or with factoring in elements that can impact the rate of return an investment will produce, then you should try our Investment Returns Tool.