ROI is more than the sale price: include income and expenses
Record sale proceeds, income received, original cost and additional expenses separately. Omitting or double-counting one category can change the return percentage substantially.
Return on investment calculator →Follow the calculator’s expense convention
The ROI tool defines total invested as original cost plus additional expenses. Net gain is final value plus income received minus that total investment. Income should not already be included in final value, or it will be counted twice. This explicit convention matters because other presentations may place certain costs differently when describing a return.
Reconcile one transaction
Suppose original cost is 10,000, additional expenses are 200, sale proceeds are 11,000 and income received during ownership is 300. Total invested is 10,200 and net gain is 1,100. ROI is 1,100/10,200, approximately 10.78%. Dividing only the 1,000 sale-price difference by original cost gives 10%, but that calculation omits both income and expenses and answers a differently defined question.
Keep timing and tax treatment explicit
The tool does not annualize the result or use cash-flow dates to calculate an internal rate of return. Taxes enter only when you include them as expenses, and fees already deducted from net sale proceeds should not be deducted again. Instalments, leverage and reinvestment can complicate performance analysis. A single simple ROI does not summarize every risk or determine whether two investments with different durations are equivalent.
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