Caroline Banton has 6+ years of experience as a writer of business and finance articles. She also writes biographies for Story Terrace. Gordon Scott has been an active investor and technical analyst ...

Total return is the change in adjusted share price (stocks), NAV (mutual funds), or market prices (ETFs and closed-end funds) over the selected time period. For stocks, it includes dividends earned ...

Total return includes both capital gains and dividends, providing a comprehensive view of stock performance. Expressing total return as a percentage or dollar value helps compare various investments ...

Note: This article is part of Morningstar's January 2016 5-Step Retirement-Portfolio Assessment Week special report. This article previously appeared Nov. 16, 2015. Just as partisan bickering has ...