CAGR Calculator

Calculate compound annual growth rate, total growth, real CAGR, and future projection from starting and ending values.

CAGR inputs

Calculate annualized growth between a starting value and ending value.

Initial valueFinal valueYearsInflation rate

CAGR

12.47%

Total growth

80%

Absolute growth

$8,000

Inflation-adjusted CAGR

9.73%

Five-year projection

$32,400

Assumes the same CAGR continues.

Formula

CAGR = (18,000 / 10,000)^(1 / 5) - 1

Related calculators

Rule of 72 CalculatorEstimate how long money takes to double, or what annual return is needed to double within a target period.
Compound Interest CalculatorEstimate future value, total contributions, interest earned, and the rule-of-72 timeline from an initial investment and monthly deposits.
Sharpe Ratio CalculatorMeasure risk-adjusted return using portfolio return, risk-free rate, and volatility.
Dividend Yield CalculatorCalculate dividend yield, yield on cost, after-tax income, monthly income, and target yield price.

What is CAGR?

CAGR, or compound annual growth rate, converts a beginning value and ending value into the steady annual compound rate that would connect them. It is more useful than a simple average when comparing long-term investment, business revenue, or asset-value performance.

The Korean calculator goes beyond the basic formula with eight asset-class presets, inflation-adjusted real CAGR, goal seek, net CAGR after tax and fees, Sharpe ratio, asset-class comparison charts, 30-year compounding, age-100 retirement simulation, scenario comparison, and segment analysis.

Formula and accuracy

Core formula

CAGR = (final value / initial value)^(1 / years) - 1.
KRW 1,000,000 growing to KRW 2,000,000 over 5 years has CAGR about 14.87%.
In Excel, use =POWER(final/initial, 1/years) - 1 or =RRI(years, initial, final).

Why simple average can mislead

If returns are +50% then -30%, the simple average is +10%, but KRW 1,000,000 becomes KRW 1,500,000 and then KRW 1,050,000, so total return is only +5% and CAGR is about +2.47%.
If returns are +100% then -50%, the simple average is +25%, but the actual CAGR is 0% because the investor ends where they started.
CAGR uses only start and end points, so it does not show volatility, drawdown, or sequence risk. Pair it with Sharpe, Sortino, MDD, or yearly data when risk matters.

Real and net CAGR

Inflation adjustment

Real CAGR = (1 + nominal CAGR) / (1 + inflation rate) - 1.
With nominal CAGR 8% and inflation 3%, real CAGR is about 4.85%, not exactly 5%.
The Korean source uses average inflation references around 2.5% for Korea, 3.0% for the United States, and 5% to 10% for emerging markets.

Tax, fee, and long-horizon examples

ETF management fees of 0.1% to 0.5% per year and active fund fees of 1.0% to 2.5% per year directly reduce net CAGR.
For KRW 10,000,000 over 30 years, deposit 3.5% becomes about KRW 28,070,000, KOSPI 8% about KRW 100,600,000, S&P 500 10.5% about KRW 196,650,000, and Nasdaq 13% about KRW 391,160,000 in the guide.
For DCF analysis, past 5 to 10 year revenue or FCF CAGR is a starting point for future growth assumptions, but terminal growth is usually held near nominal GDP, around 2% to 3%.