Actual Return

Actual Return

The return or yield on an investment or portfolio, as opposed to an estimation of the same. Before making an investment, one generally calculates the expected return, which is an important aspect of an investment's risk analysis. The actual return is what objectively happened to the investment. In addition to contributing to an investor's profit or loss on a given deal, the actual return may be measured against the expected return to determine the accuracy of risk analysis methodologies.