Most broker apps only show a simple price change. Navexa shows your true investor return.
🎥 Watch this first
Brokerage Apps Are Lying To You
Short video: Simple return vs Time Weighted Return, IRR and the modified Dietz method Navexa uses.
Watch this in full if you want the quickest, visual explanation of why your broker’s percentage can be misleading and why Navexa’s numbers often look different.
Prefer to read instead?
Most broker apps show you a single green (or red) percentage and call it “performance”.
In reality, that number is usually just a simple price change. It ignores:
When you added or withdrew money
Dividends and DRP
Fees and some taxes
How long your money was actually invested
That is why Navexa’s performance figures will often not match what you see in your broker. Navexa is designed to answer a better question:
“How did I actually perform as an investor over this period?”
This guide explains:
What your broker is usually showing
The main ways investment returns can be calculated
Why Navexa uses a modified Dietz style method
Why your Navexa percentage often does not match your broker’s number
1. What your broker is usually showing
Most broker apps use simple price change.
Example:
You bought at $10. The price is now $12. The app says you are up 20%.
This is quick and easy, but it:
Looks only at price movement
Ignores deposits and withdrawals
Ignores dividends and DRP
Ignores how long your money was invested
Often ignores fees and FX movements
If you add money halfway through the year, or sell part of a position after a fall, that “20%” tells you very little about how your decisions actually performed.
It is like checking the scoreboard halfway through the game and assuming the result is final.
2. Four common return methods in plain English
There are four main ways portfolio returns are calculated. Each tells a different story.
1) Simple price change
This is what many brokers show.
Compares only the starting price and the current price
Ignores cashflows, income and timing
Easy to show, but not your real investor return
2) Time Weighted Return (TWR)
This is common in professional fund reports.
Removes the effect of deposits and withdrawals
Answers: “How did the investment itself perform?”
Good for rating fund managers or indexes
Less useful for individual investors, because it ignores your actual timing
You might invest more at a bad time. TWR pretends your money was there the whole period.
3) Money Weighted Return (IRR)
Includes all deposits and withdrawals
Answers: “How did my actual money grow?”
Accurate in theory, but calculated by repeated “guessing” in software
Hard for most investors to verify or understand, since you cannot recreate it in a simple spreadsheet
4) Modified Dietz
This is the practical middle ground.
Includes your cashflows and your time in the market
Looks at your dollar gain or loss, divided by your average invested capital, weighted by time
If you invest halfway through the period, that cash only counts for half the period
Transparent enough to check, realistic enough to trust
This is why serious tracking tools, including Navexa, use a modified Dietz style approach as the foundation for portfolio performance.
3. What Navexa actually shows you
Navexa’s performance tools are built on a modified Dietz style calculation.
For the period you select, Navexa:
Includes deposits and withdrawals
Includes dividend income and DRP
Includes FX movement for foreign holdings and ETFs where applicable
Takes into account fees that affect your capital
Weights each cashflow by how long it was invested during the period
On top of that foundation, you can switch between:
Simple return for the period
CAGR (compound annual growth rate) for your average annualised growth over that period
Both are based on the same modified Dietz method. One answers “How much did I make over this period”. The other answers “What was my true annual compounding rate”.
For more technical detail, see:
How Does Navexa Calculate & Display Your Portfolio Performance?
https://help.navexa.com/en/articles/8878847-how-does-navexa-calculate-display-your-portfolio-performance
4. Why Navexa and your broker app show different numbers
It is very common for Navexa’s performance to disagree with your broker’s percentage. That does not automatically mean something is wrong.
Common reasons include:
a) Cashflows during the period
You added or withdrew money, or moved holdings between accounts.
Navexa adjusts for this.
Your broker percentage is often blind to it.
b) Dividends and DRP
Navexa treats distributions, DRP and franking credits as part of your total return.
Many broker displays focus on price only, or treat DRP as extra units with no proper context.
c) Fees and FX
Navexa factors in FX movement and certain brokerage costs that affect your capital.
Broker figures often ignore these in the simple percentage.
d) Different time periods
Navexa calculates over the exact date range you select.
Your broker may show “since first trade”, “today”, “since last close” or another period, sometimes without making that clear.
e) Corporate actions and adjustments
Navexa tracks events like splits, consolidations and returns of capital at parcel level where supported.
Broker displays may show these differently or lump them into price movements.
Navexa is built for long term tracking, tax and better decision making. It prioritises accurate, time aware returns over simple price only numbers.
5. What to do if your numbers still look wrong
If your Navexa return does not match your broker and you are concerned, work through these steps:
Check the period each system is using. Make sure you are comparing the same dates.
Consider any deposits, withdrawals, DRP or corporate actions that happened in that period.
Remember that most broker numbers are price only, not full investor return.
If, after reading this guide in full and watching the video, you still believe something is incorrect:
Take a screenshot from Navexa
Take a matching screenshot from your broker for the same holding and period
Contact Navexa support and include those screenshots and dates
This helps us quickly determine whether:
It is simply a difference in calculation method, or
There is an underlying data issue that needs investigation.
By understanding how returns are calculated, you stop guessing. You can look at your Navexa performance and know “this is what really happened with my money”, not just what a share price did on its own.