What is portfolio return?
submitted by Demetrius A. Funkytown

tortoise hair

That is the total gain or loss generated by all the investments within a portfolio during a specific period. It includes both capital appreciation and income like dividends or interest.

Rhonda Squires

It's how much money you make or lose from all your investments combined. If you invested in stocks, bonds, and maybe some mutual funds, the return looks at how each of those did overall. It's a comparison of how much you invested vs how much you earned. If you invested $100 and earned $10, you'd have a 10% return.

If you're new to investing, a portfolio is a list of all your investments. You might have equity (stock) in a few companies and a couple mutual funds. You can look at the amount you've earned for each of those individually to see if it was worth your time and money, or you can look at all of them together. When you consider all of them, you're looking at the return (earnings) for your entire portfolio (list of investments).