• Annual or yearly return is a measure of how much an investment has increased on average each year over a period of time.

  • Annual income is calculated as a geometric mean to show what the total annual income would look like.
  • Annual income can be more useful than simple income when you want to see how an investment performs over time, or compare two investments.
  • Annual return can be determined for a variety of assets, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, commodities, and some derivatives.