On Apr 5, 5:37*am, "Fred Smith" wrote:
In calculating the return of an investment, the regularity of the data is
immaterial. The only thing that matters is cash flow. When you invest
$1000 and a year later have $1100, you've made 10%. It doesn't matter
what values the investment had during the year.

And if you follow my example more closely, you will see that I did not
include them.

The "regularity of the data" does not affect the result. But it might
affect the simplicity of a solution.

Put the dates and the cash flows in two ranges then feed this to XIRR.
It will calculate the return.

And if $1000 is in B2 and $1100 is in B6, B6/B2 - 1 calculates the
annual return. Much simpler. No need to copy data or change signs.

The real point of my first response was: the OP's requirements are
ambiguous. I wanted to present the OP with a choice -- a simpler
solution for the simplest problem. It is up to the OP to decide which
solution applies to his/her situation.

(I would consider XIRR only if there were multiple cash flows, and the
OP wants to take time-value into account. But mutual funds do not
when they compute total return rates.)