IRR Calculator to Calculate Internal Rate of Return of Any Number of Regular, Unequal Cash Flows

Internal Rate of Return Calculator Sign

This calculator will help you to determine the average annual rate of return on an investment having uneven cash flows that occur regularly.

You can choose from Annual, Semi-Annual, Quarterly, or Monthly cash flow intervals, as well as set the date of the beginning period.

Plus, once you choose the cash flow frequency, set the starting period, and enter the number of periods, the calculator will create a cash flow entry form (spreadsheet) on the fly, filling in all subsequent periods for you. Cool!

Finally, once you have entered all cash flows and clicked the "Calculator IRR" button, the calculator will even generate a printable IRR schedule showing the future value of each entered cash flow.

In other words, unlike other online IRR calculators, this IRR solver won't leave you guessing as to the validity of the internal rate of return result.

Note that if you want to calculate the internal rate of return for an investment having non-periodic cash flows, please use the XIRR Calculator instead.

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Internal Rate of Return Calculator

Calculate internal rate of return of an investment having uneven cash flows that occur on a regular basis.

Special Instructions

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Selected Data Record:

A Data Record is a set of calculator entries that are stored in your web browser's Local Storage. If a Data Record is currently selected in the "Data" tab, this line will list the name you gave to that data record. If no data record is selected, or you have no entries stored for this calculator, the line will display "None".

DataData recordData recordSelected data record: None
Interval:Cash flow interval:Cash flow interval:Cash flow interval:

Cash flow interval:

Select the frequency at which the regular cash flows occurred or will occur.

Initial investment month & year:Initial invesment month & year:Month and year of initial investment:Month and year of initial investment:

Month and year of initial investment:

Indicate the beginning time period of the initial investment by selecting the applicable month and entering the 4-digit year.

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# periods:# of periods:Number of periods to include:Number of cash flow periods to include in form:

Number of periods to include in form:

Enter the number of periods you would like included in the outflow/inflow form. Note that if you make changes to this field after creating and/or completing the cash flow entry form, the entry form will be cleared. So feel free to enter more periods than you think you might need as the calculator will simply ignore any extra blank periods.

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Period entry column:

This column will be automatically populated with the time periods based on the selections/entries in the first two lines of the IRR Calculator.

Investments entry column:

Enter the starting investment amount on the first line and then on any subsequent lines where additional amounts were invested (enter as positive values, without dollar signs or commas). Note that numbers entered in this column are usually entered as negative values when using an IRR spreadsheet function, however this IRR Calculator converts the values to negative for you.

Withdrawals & End Value column:

For time periods where withdrawals occurred, enter the amounts in this column. If no cash flow occurred in an interim time period you can either enter a zero or leave the field blank. You must have at least one value in this column for the IRR calculation to begin. Enter as positive values, without dollar signs or commas.

Profit (-Loss):Profit (-Loss):Profit (-Loss):Profit (-Loss):

Profit (-Loss):

The is the sum of all withdrawals and the ending value minus the sum of all invested amounts.

# periods:# of periods:Number of regular time periods:Number of regular time periods:

Number of regular time periods:

This is the total number of time periods that were included in the calculations.

Balance:Calculated balance:Calculated balance:Calculated balance:

Calculated balance:

The closer this result is to zero, the more accurate the Internal Rate of Return result.

Iterations:# iterations:Number of iterations:Number of iterations:

Number of iterations:

This is the number of secondary iterations (tries) it took to find a rate of return that would support the entered schedule of investments and withdrawals. If this result is equal to 100,000 it means the IRR Calculator reached its limit of tries before finding a solution within +/- $0.05 of a zero balance.

IRR:IRR:Internal Rate of Return:Internal Rate of Return:

Internal Rate of Return:

This is the estimated average annual rate of return of the entered cash flows.

If you would like to save the current entries to the secure online database, tap or click on the Data tab, select "New Data Record", give the data record a name, then tap or click the Save button. To save changes to previously saved entries, simply tap the Save button. Please select and "Clear" any data records you no longer need.

Help and Tools

Learn

What IRR is and how the function works.

What is IRR?

IRR stands for Internal Rate of Return and is used to describe the average annual return on investments where deposits and payments vary in amounts.

And since the cash flows vary in amounts (uneven), standard time value of money formulas cannot be used to solve for the rate of return (they only work for equal cash flow amounts).

To calculate the internal rate of return of a series of unequal cash flows (deposits and income), those familiar with spreadsheet software (Excel™, OpenOffice Calc, etc.) can simply use the IRR function to solve for the average annual return of unequal cash flows.

However, if you are not familiar with how to set up a spreadsheet to solve for the internal rate of return of a series of unequal cash flows, you can now find a solution using this IRR Calculator -- which has a built-in IRR function.

What is IRR Function and How Does It Work?

The IRR function is an iterative process (algorithm) of trial and error used to find a rate of return that would solve for a schedule of unequal cash flows.

Specifically, the IRR function starts with a guess (usually 10%) and calculates the future values of all cash flows based on that guess. If the result is less than the actual combined future values, the function increments the guess by a small fraction of a percentage. And conversely, if the result is greater than the actual future values, the function decrements the guess by a small fraction.

Next, in either case, the function recalculates using the new guess. It then repeats the process of adjusting the guess and recalculating until either a result is found, or the preset maximum number of tries (iterations) has been reached.

Preset Limitations To Be Aware Of

Since the number of iterations required to solve extreme sets of unequal cash flows can be astronomical, I've taken the following steps to limit the amount of time it takes for this online IRR calculator to complete its calculations.

  1. Preliminary iteration starts with a guess of -100% and adds 1 percent to the guess until the result is greater than the actual combined future values.
  2. Secondary iteration starts with the guess arrived at by the primary iteration and then subtracts .0001 percent from the guess until the result is within $0.05 of the actual combined future values.
  3. Maximum number of both the primary and secondary tries (iterations) is set to 100,000.

If you would like to see the above limitations relaxed to give a more accurate result, please use the feedback form located beneath the calculator to let me know.

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Adjust Calculator Width:

Move the slider to left and right to adjust the calculator width. Note that the Help and Tools panel will be hidden when the calculator is too wide to fit both on the screen. Moving the slider to the left will bring the instructions and tools panel back into view.

Also note that some calculators will reformat to accommodate the screen size as you make the calculator wider or narrower. If the calculator is narrow, columns of entry rows will be converted to a vertical entry form, whereas a wider calculator will display columns of entry rows, and the entry fields will be smaller in size ... since they will not need to be "thumb friendly".

Show/Hide Popup Keypads:

Select Show or Hide to show or hide the popup keypad icons located next to numeric entry fields. These are generally only needed for mobile devices that don't have decimal points in their numeric keypads. So if you are on a desktop, you may find the calculator to be more user-friendly and less cluttered without them.

Stick/Unstick Tools:

Select Stick or Unstick to stick or unstick the help and tools panel. Selecting "Stick" will keep the panel in view while scrolling the calculator vertically. If you find that annoying, select "Unstick" to keep the panel in a stationary position.

If the tools panel becomes "Unstuck" on its own, try clicking "Unstick" and then "Stick" to re-stick the panel.