CAGR Calculator
The smoothed annual growth rate that turns your starting value into the ending one.
The formula
CAGR = (end / start)1/years - 1
$10,000 growing to $19,672 over 10 years is a CAGR of 7%: the single steady rate that would have produced the same result. The actual path was probably lumpy; CAGR deliberately smooths it away, which is both its use and its blind spot.
Reading CAGR honestly
CAGR ignores volatility and interim cash flows: a fund that went +60%, -30% shows the same CAGR as one that did +5.8% twice. It also only uses two endpoints, so cherry-picked start dates (a market bottom) flatter it badly. For deposits and withdrawals along the way, you want a money-weighted return instead; for marketing decks, always ask what window was chosen and why.