You invested $10000 in a mutual fund at the beginning aof the year when NAV was $41.86. At the end of the year the fund paid $0.34 in short term distributions and $1.25 in long term distribution. If the NAV of the fund at the end of the year wwas $43.51, what was your return for the year?

Thank you for your help!

The total return -- in decimal form -- is



where B is what you began with, and E is what you ended with.

B is easy... it's the 10K you initially invested.

E will take a bit o' figuring, but still a snap. At the end of the year you had two things, and the sum of the two is E.

You had cash, which came from the two distributions. You've got the (what I assume are) per-share distribution amounts; to determine the total cash received, of course, you'll also need to calculate the total number of shares you hold (total initial investment divided by initial NAV).

The cash from the two year-end distributions is the one component of E; the other is the end-of-year value of your fund investment. Multiply your 10K investment by the appreciation / depreciation of the fund's share's value, as given by the ratio of the beginning and ending NAVs.

Total distribution cash received, plus year-end investment value, = E.