Glossary · Returns
Total return
The return of an investment including income (dividends or interest), not just the change in price.
A price-only series shows what a unit was worth; a total-return series shows what a holder actually earned, treating income as reinvested. For a fund yielding meaningfully, the gap between the two compounds into a large difference over several years.
Accumulating share classes roll income back into the fund automatically, so their price series is already close to a total return. Distributing classes pay it out, so their price series understates what a reinvesting holder received.
Comparing an accumulating class against the price series of a distributing one is one of the commonest ways fund comparisons go wrong.
How we calculate it
Computed from accumulation share classes or dividend-adjusted series.
Related
NAV
The per-unit value of a fund’s assets after its liabilities, normally struck once per day.
Real return
A return after inflation has been removed — what the money can actually buy.
Accumulation vs income units
Accumulation units reinvest the fund’s income automatically; income units pay it out as cash.