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What is Internal rate of return?

The discount rate at which a set of cashflows exactly breaks even, so their net present value is zero.

It exists only where money goes out and later comes back. A series of pure inflows or pure outflows has no break-even rate at all, and a series that changes sign more than once can have several.

Not to be confused with CAGR

CAGR describes one lump sum growing from a start value to an end value. IRR handles many cashflows at different times, which is what you need the moment money goes in more than once.

Where this is used