How to measure investment performance

One major factor in any investor’s decision to hold or sell an investment is often the performance of the stock or fund—aka how it’s doing. Is it growing over time?

To help you assess how your investments are doing, the Plynk app shows some different performance figures, including your investment rate of return and market comparisons.

Investment rate of return

On the “My stocks & funds” screen you’ll see a “Key statistics” section, which displays your portfolio’s gain or loss as a dollar amount and as a percentage. This percentage shows your “investment rate of return.” It’s the growth or decline in the value of all your investments combined.*

Rate of return can be positive or negative depending on how your investments performed during a given time period. It will likely fluctuate over time, so you might see different percentages over different time periods.

Market comparisons

On each stock or fund’s details screen (under "Insights" in a section labeled “Growth”), you can see a comparison between the rate of return of that particular investment and the average market return.

The Plynk app uses the S&P 500 market index as a guide for the stock market as a whole, so you’ll be able to see whether that individual investment has performed better or worse than the S&P 500's average.

For example, it may read something like "BIG CORP’s growth of 8% over the past year has been less than the market average of 10%."

Of course, the S&P 500 is just one benchmark that you can use to compare. You may also find it helpful to compare your stock or fund’s performance to other market indexes related to its sector, region, size, etc. For index funds specifically, you can easily compare their performance against the performance of the market index that they are designed to mimic.

Next steps to consider

The Plynk app also offers expert ratings for stocks and funds that may help you feel more confident in your investing decisions. Check out the Discover page to browse investments categorized by themes that might appeal to you.