software

How can you calculate the rate of return for a series of payments not
necessarily equal?

Look in Help for IRR or XIR
best wishes
--
Bernard V Liengme
www.stfx.ca/people/bliengme
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quot;A.R.T.quot; gt; wrote in message
...
gt; How can you calculate the rate of return for a series of payments not
gt; necessarily equal?
Yes you can. It's the XIRR function, which is part of the Analysis Tookpal
addin.

--
Regards,
Fredquot;A.R.T.quot; gt; wrote in message
...
gt; How can you calculate the rate of return for a series of payments not
gt; necessarily equal?
quot;A.R.T.quot; wrote:
gt; How can you calculate the rate of return for a
gt; series of payments not necessarily equal?

There is a recurring misconception in the responses
to such questions.

Use IRR whenever the payment __periods__ are equal,
even if the payment amounts (aka cash flows) are
unequal.

Use XIRR whenever the payment __periods__ are
unequal, whether or not the payment amounts are
equal.

Your question is ambiguous with respect to which
case applies.

Note: If the payment periods are quot;equalquot;, e.g. quot;once
a monthquot;, but interest is compounded daily, you might
want to use XIRR since each month contains a different
number of days (compounding periods).

You're correct that IRR was designed for situations with equal payment periods,
even if amounts are unequal. However, IRR returns a periodic interest rate (like
Rate does). So if your payments are quarterly, you get a quarterly interest
rate. This confuses a lot of people, because they want an annual rate, which is
why XIRR works so well for them.

--
Regards,
Fredquot; gt; wrote in
message news
gt; quot;A.R.T.quot; wrote:
gt;gt; How can you calculate the rate of return for a
gt;gt; series of payments not necessarily equal?
gt;
gt; There is a recurring misconception in the responses
gt; to such questions.
gt;
gt; Use IRR whenever the payment __periods__ are equal,
gt; even if the payment amounts (aka cash flows) are
gt; unequal.
gt;
gt; Use XIRR whenever the payment __periods__ are
gt; unequal, whether or not the payment amounts are
gt; equal.
gt;
gt; Your question is ambiguous with respect to which
gt; case applies.
gt;
gt; Note: If the payment periods are quot;equalquot;, e.g. quot;once
gt; a monthquot;, but interest is compounded daily, you might
gt; want to use XIRR since each month contains a different
gt; number of days (compounding periods).