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What Does Return On Investment - ROI Mean?: Investor Cash Flow
What Does Return On Investment - ROI Mean?: Investor Cash Flow
ROI is a measure of cash generated by or lost due to the investment. It measures the cash flow or income stream
from the investment to the investor, relative to the amount invested.Cash flow to the investor can be in the form of
profit, interest, dividends, or capital gain/loss. Capital gain/loss occurs when the market value or resale value of the
investment increases or decreases. Cash flow here does not include the return of invested capital.
ROI values typically used for personal financial decisions include Annual Rate of Return and Annualized
Rate of Return. For nominal risk investments such as savings accounts or Certificates of Deposit, the personal
investor considers the effects of reinvesting/compounding on increasing savings balances over time. For
investments in which capital is at risk, such as stock shares, mutual fund shares and home purchases, the
personal investor considers the effects of price volatility and capital gain/loss on returns.
Profitability ratios typically used by financial analysts to compare a company’s profitability over time or
compare profitability between companies include Gross Profit Margin, Operating Profit Margin, ROI
During capital budgeting, companies compare the rates of return of different projects to select which projects
to pursue in order to generate maximum return or wealth for the company's stockholders. Companies do so by
considering the average rate of return, payback period, net present value, profitability index, and internal rate of
A return may be adjusted for taxes to give the after-tax rate of return. This is done in geographical areas or
historical times in which taxes consumed or consume a significant portion of profits or income. The after-tax rate
of return is calculated by multiplying the rate of return by the tax rate, then subtracting that percentage from the
rate of return.
Except for rare periods of significant deflation where the opposite may be true, a dollar in cash is worth less today
than it was yesterday, and worth more today than it will be worth tomorrow. The main factors that are used by
investors to determine the rate of return at which they are willing to invest money include:
estimates regarding the risk of the investment (e.g. how likely it is that investors will receive regular
whether or not the investors want the money available (“liquid”) for other uses.
Rate of Return and Return on Investment indicate cash flow from an investment to the investor over a
ROI is a measure of investment profitability, not a measure of investment size. While compound interest and
dividend reinvestment can increase the size of the investment (thus potentially yielding a higher dollar return
In general, the higher the investment risk, the greater the potential investment return, and the greater the