Rolling Returns: The Fairest Way to Judge a Fund's Consistency

"This fund returned 18% over 5 years." True — but if you'd started six months earlier or later, the number could be very different. Rolling returns remove that luck of the dates.

What they are Instead of one start-to-end figure, rolling returns measure the return for every possible window of a given length (say, all 3-year periods) across the fund's history, then look at the distribution.

What they reveal - Consistency: how often the fund delivered a good return, not just once. - Worst case: the lowest 3-year return in its history — a reality check. - Odds: e.g., "positive in 95% of 3-year windows, beat its category in 70%."

Why it matters A fund with a great point-to-point number but wild rolling returns is unreliable. A fund with steady rolling returns is one you can actually hold through ups and downs.

Rolling-return consistency is a core input to our FundScore. See the rolling picture on any scored fund page.