Private-equity firms typically seek an annual rate of return of at least 15%.

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That assumes the account earns a 7% annual rate of return.

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They found an annual rate of return of 7% to 10%, lower than the rates reported in the earlier studies, though higher than from most financial investments.

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Moreover, because it would be funded, the basic pension plus could be much larger than today's basic state pension: since 1979, the annual rate of return on private pensions was double that assumed by the government in drawing up its plans.

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Similarly, in Galveston, Texas, where local government workers in three counties opted for a personal savings and investment alternative to Social Security in 1981 as well, the annual rate of return fell by about half at the lowest point of the financial crisis.

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Over the past 15 years and 40 shows, Baruch says, his company has posted an average annual 40% internal rate of return.

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Even in this scenario, Apple just meets the breakeven required rate of return, delivering a 10% compound annual return.

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The dispersion is somewhat larger when measuring average annual returns (annualized return, recall, is the compounded or geometric rate of return during a multiple-year time period).

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In the 433 months since trading freely following 1973's demise of the Bretton Woods exchange-rate system, gold has had a 7.1% average annual return, achieved solely from six relatively brief spikes.

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The person who sets up the trust gets annual payments adding up to the asset's original value, plus a return based on a fixed interest rate set by the Internal Revenue Service.

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