XIRR Calculator

How to use the XIRR calculator

1. Enter the initial investment (a positive number) and the date you paid it.
2. Set the number of cash flow events, from 2 to 25. The form shows that many rows.
3. For each event, enter the amount and its date. Use a positive number for money received and a negative number for an extra contribution.
4. Press Calculate to see the extended internal rate of return, the gross return and the net cash flow.

Every cash flow row you display needs a date, and no date can fall before the investment date. At least one cash flow must be positive, otherwise there is no return to measure. An empty amount with a valid date counts as zero.

Cash flow amounts are used as whole numbers: any fractional part is dropped (250.9 becomes 250, and -250.9 becomes -250). The initial investment keeps its cents. Round your cash flows to whole currency units before entering them if exactness matters.

The results are mathematical estimates, not financial advice. See the disclaimer.

What XIRR tells you

The extended internal rate of return (XIRR) is the single annual rate of return that explains a series of cash flows paid on specific dates. It is the date-aware cousin of the internal rate of return, which assumes every payment is separated by the same length of time.

That makes XIRR the right tool for real portfolios: a stock bought in March, topped up in September, with a dividend in December and a sale the following spring. The gaps are uneven, and XIRR weighs each cash flow by exactly how long it was outstanding.

Alongside the rate, the calculator reports two simple measures. Net cash flow is everything received minus everything invested. Gross return is that net amount divided by the initial investment, ignoring timing altogether.

The XIRR formula

XIRR is the rate r that sets the net present value of all dated cash flows to zero, with time measured in days over a 365-day year:

0 = Σ cash flow ÷ (1 + r)^{days since investment ÷ 365}The sum runs over every cash flow, including the investment itself, which enters as a negative amount on day 0.

There is no algebraic solution, so the calculator searches for the rate numerically. The first term, the investment, is not discounted because its exponent is zero.

gross return = (sum of cash flows − initial investment) ÷ initial investment

Worked example

An investor puts in $20,000 on 10 February 2023 and receives three payments:

The net cash flow is 6,000 + 7,000 + 9,500 − 20,000 = $2,500 and the gross return is 2,500 ÷ 20,000 = 12.5%. That simple figure hides the timing. The rate that discounts the three payments back to the investment date is 8.143% a year.

To check it, discount each payment at 8.143%: 6,000 ÷ 1.08143^283/365 is about 5,646.67, 7,000 ÷ 1.08143^542/365 is about 6,231.82 and 9,500 ÷ 1.08143^731/365 is about 8,121.51. Their sum is 20,000.00, exactly the amount invested.

XIRR versus IRR

Plain IRR treats the cash flows as a list and assumes they are equally spaced. It returns a rate per period, and you must annualize it yourself. XIRR reads the actual dates and returns an annual rate directly.

The difference can be large. Take an investment of $10,000 that returns $4,000 three times. IRR says 9.70% per period whatever the spacing. If the payments arrive yearly, the XIRR is 9.69%, almost the same. If they arrive every six months, the same money earns an XIRR of 20.34% a year, because it comes back twice as fast.

• Use IRR when cash flows are periodic and equal in spacing, such as a project with yearly cash flows.
• Use XIRR when dates are irregular or when you want an annual rate from monthly or ad hoc flows.
• Neither measure tells you the money-weighted return in currency terms. Use the NPV calculator to see value created at a chosen discount rate, or the WACC calculator to estimate the rate to compare against.

Limits and cautions

• Sign matters. The investment is an outflow and payouts are inflows. A stream with no positive cash flow has no meaningful rate.
• Multiple solutions. Cash flows that change sign several times can have more than one valid rate. The calculator reports the one closest to zero.
• Reinvestment is assumed at the same rate. XIRR implicitly assumes interim cash flows could be reinvested at the calculated rate, which can flatter high-return investments.
• Fees and taxes are not modelled. Include them in the cash flow amounts if you want a net result.
• Short holding periods. Annualizing a return earned over a few days can produce very large, unreliable percentages.