IRR stands for internal rate of return. It measures your rate of return on a project or investment while excluding external factors. It can be used to estimate the profitability of investments, similar to accounting rate of return (ARR).
Internal rate of return is a capital budgeting calculation for deciding which projects or investments under consideration are investment-worthy and ranking them. IRR is the discount rate for which the net present value (NPV) equals zero (when time-adjusted future cash flows equal the initial investment).
The internal rate of return (IRR) rule states that a project or investment can be worth pursuing if its IRR is greater than the minimum required rate of return, or hurdle rate. The IRR rule can help a company decide whether to proceed with one project vs. another.
A 20% IRR shows that an investment should yield a 20% return, annually, over the time during which you hold it. Typically, higher IRR is better IRR. And because the formula includes NPV, which accounts for cash in and out, the IRR formula is even more accurate than its common counterpart return on investment.
There isn't a one-size-fits-all answer, but generally, an IRR of around 5% to 10% might be considered good for very low-risk investments, an IRR in the range of 10% to 15% is common for moderate-risk investments, and in investments with higher risk, such as early-stage startups, investors might look for an IRR higher ...
What Is a Good Internal Rate of Return? Whether an IRR is good or bad will depend on the cost of capital and the opportunity cost of the investor. For instance, a real estate investor might pursue a project with a 25% IRR if comparable alternative real estate investments offer a return of, say, 20% or lower.
The simple reason for the problem is that the gap between the actual reinvestment rate and the assumed IRR exists for a longer period of time, so the impact of the distortion accumulates.
ROI and IRR are complementary metrics where the main difference between the two is the time value of money. ROI gives you the total return of an investment but doesn't take into consideration the time value of money. IRR does take into consideration the time value of money and gives you the annual growth rate.
IRR overstates the annual equivalent rate of return for a project whose interim cash flows are reinvested at a rate lower than the calculated IRR. IRR does not consider cost of capital; it should not be used to compare projects of different duration.
So the rule of thumb is that, for “double your money” scenarios, you take 100%, divide by the # of years, and then estimate the IRR as about 75-80% of that value. For example, if you double your money in 3 years, 100% / 3 = 33%. 75% of 33% is about 25%, which is the approximate IRR in this case.
What is a good IRR in Real Estate? A good IRR in real estate investing could be somewhere between 15% to 20%. However, it varies based on the cost basis, the market, the particular class, the investment strategy, and many other variables.
Some of the advantages of the IRR method are that the formula and concept are easy to understand and that the IRR takes into account the time value of money to yield a more accurate calculation. The IRR also allows the investor to get a snapshot of the potential investment returns of the project.
The simplest example of computing an IRR is by taking one from everyday life: a mortgage with even payments. Assume an initial mortgage amount of $200,000 and monthly payments of $1,050 for 30 years. The IRR (or implied interest rate) on this loan annually is 4.8%.
Two key weaknesses of the internal rate of return rule are the: failure to correctly analyze mutually exclusive projects and the multiple rate of return problem.
One quick way of checking that the calculated IRR is correct for a project is to insert the IRR % value answer as the minimum return % that is used to calculate the NPV.
Illustrating the Problems of Solely Depending on the IRR
Upon examining the table, it becomes clear that the IRR alone will tell us nothing about actual periodic payments or total profitability. There can be an almost infinite variability in cash flow streams and total profit that will equal a 12% IRR.
The IRR can be positive, negative and sometime there may be no solution, a unique solution or there can be multiple solutions.
If you invest 1 dollar and get 2 dollars in return, the IRR will be 100%, which sounds incredible. In reality, your profit isn't big. So, a high IRR doesn't mean a certain investment will make you rich. However, it does make a project more attractive to look into.
One of the main problems with IRR is that it can be misleading or inconsistent in some situations. For instance, if a project has multiple cash flows with different signs, such as positive and negative cash flows, it may have more than one IRR, which can create confusion and ambiguity.
Calculated Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
The Standard & Poor's 500® (S&P 500®) for the 10 years ending December 31st 2023, had an annual compounded rate of return of 15.2%, including reinvestment of dividends.
Ignores the time value of money: IRR does not consider the time value of money and the opportunity cost of invested capital, making it unsuitable for comparing investments with different durations.
In other words, if you are provided an IRR of 20% and asked to determine the proceeds achieved in year 5, the result is simple: Your investment will grow by 20% for 5 years. This works out to 2.49.
The inclusion of financing costs differentiates the cash-on-cash return from the cap rate, which divides net operating income (NOI) by the market value of a property. The standard cash-on-cash return ranges from 8% to 12%, contingent on market conditions, economic sentiment, and investment firm-specific factors.
XIRR is especially useful for investments with irregular cash flows, like mutual funds, where contributions and withdrawals happen at different times. Generally, a benchmark for a good XIRR is around 15-20%.