A rather complicated mathematical formula is used to calculate average annual total return, so unless you have a finance calculator, you may want to simply refer to fund company literature or check published fund performance information sources. It assumes that you would take distributions and dividends as cash at the end of the year and not use it to purchase more shares. This is not typically the number used by most sources in reporting performance results, but is provided here to generally illustrate how to calculate straight returns from information you have available. To Calculate Total Return , multiply the number of shares owned by the net asset value per share to get the current value of shares, then subtract the original investment from the result to get the increase in value. Yield is a measure of a fund's dividend income or earnings paid out to you, usually expressed as a percentage of its current share price over a designated period.
Yield is probably most important to investors who are trying to generate current income.
When the yield is added to the percentage gain or loss in the fund's shares, the result is total return.