How to Determine the Total Return of a Bond Fund
A mutual fund by definition has a lot of moving parts, and there are different ways to measure return. Bond funds in particular can be harder to figure out, as the funds pay out both bond-interest payments and fluctuate in share-price value. While an interest payment rate may be simpler to understand, a fund's "total return"---or the actual complete investment gains or losses provided to the investor---provides a fuller picture of a fund's overall performance.
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Instructions
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Contact your financial representative. Even if you don't use a full-service broker, the firm where you hold your investment account should have phone or in-person representatives available, and they should be able to look up the total return of your bond fund for you. If you are looking for the return of the fund itself, this should be an easy process for your rep. But if you are asking for your personal investment return since you purchased the fund, the rep may have to do some calculations and get back to you.
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Call the fund company. While the fund company most likely will not have records of your own individual purchases, it will certainly know the total return of the bond fund---and more accurately than many sources you may consult. As the fund company must report return information for both tax and financial regulation purposes, it will know the exact return figures for your fund.
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Read the financial press. Although the daily reporting of mutual fund return information is not as prevalent as it once was, most financial newspapers and websites will list at least annual information on the total return of mutual funds. Fund information is generally listed alphabetically by fund company.
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Perform your own calculations. To figure out this information for yourself, you will need dividend and share-price data for the period you are investigating. Take the ending share price minus the beginning share price, then divide this figure by your starting share price. This will be the percentage change in your share price. Next, take the total amount of dividends you received and divide that by the total amount you invested at the start of the period. This will be your percentage of return from dividends. Add together your dividend percentage return and your share price return, and you will have your total return figure for your bond fund.
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