iShares MSCI ACWI Index Fund (ACWI)

TotalReturn:

'The total return on a portfolio of investments takes into account not only the capital appreciation on the portfolio, but also the income received on the portfolio. The income typically consists of interest, dividends, and securities lending fees. This contrasts with the price return, which takes into account only the capital gain on an investment.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (129.1%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return of 97.1% of iShares MSCI ACWI Index Fund is smaller, thus worse.
• Looking at total return, or increase in value in of 57.2% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (71.3%).

CAGR:

'The compound annual growth rate isn't a true return rate, but rather a representational figure. It is essentially a number that describes the rate at which an investment would have grown if it had grown the same rate every year and the profits were reinvested at the end of each year. In reality, this sort of performance is unlikely. However, CAGR can be used to smooth returns so that they may be more easily understood when compared to alternative investments.'

• Looking at the annual performance (CAGR) of 14.5% in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI ACWI Index Fund, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (18.1%)
• Looking at annual performance (CAGR) in of 16.3% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to SPY (19.7%).

Volatility:

'Volatility is a rate at which the price of a security increases or decreases for a given set of returns. Volatility is measured by calculating the standard deviation of the annualized returns over a given period of time. It shows the range to which the price of a security may increase or decrease. Volatility measures the risk of a security. It is used in option pricing formula to gauge the fluctuations in the returns of the underlying assets. Volatility indicates the pricing behavior of the security and helps estimate the fluctuations that may happen in a short period of time.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (18.7%) in the period of the last 5 years, the historical 30 days volatility of 17.8% of iShares MSCI ACWI Index Fund is lower, thus better.
• Compared with SPY (22.5%) in the period of the last 3 years, the 30 days standard deviation of 21.5% is lower, thus better.

DownVol:

'Downside risk is the financial risk associated with losses. That is, it is the risk of the actual return being below the expected return, or the uncertainty about the magnitude of that difference. Risk measures typically quantify the downside risk, whereas the standard deviation (an example of a deviation risk measure) measures both the upside and downside risk. Specifically, downside risk in our definition is the semi-deviation, that is the standard deviation of all negative returns.'

• Looking at the downside risk of 13.2% in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI ACWI Index Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (13.6%)
• Compared with SPY (16.3%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside risk of 15.9% is lower, thus better.

Sharpe:

'The Sharpe ratio (also known as the Sharpe index, the Sharpe measure, and the reward-to-variability ratio) is a way to examine the performance of an investment by adjusting for its risk. The ratio measures the excess return (or risk premium) per unit of deviation in an investment asset or a trading strategy, typically referred to as risk, named after William F. Sharpe.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.83) in the period of the last 5 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) of 0.67 of iShares MSCI ACWI Index Fund is lower, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (0.76) in the period of the last 3 years, the Sharpe Ratio of 0.64 is lower, thus worse.

Sortino:

'The Sortino ratio improves upon the Sharpe ratio by isolating downside volatility from total volatility by dividing excess return by the downside deviation. The Sortino ratio is a variation of the Sharpe ratio that differentiates harmful volatility from total overall volatility by using the asset's standard deviation of negative asset returns, called downside deviation. The Sortino ratio takes the asset's return and subtracts the risk-free rate, and then divides that amount by the asset's downside deviation. The ratio was named after Frank A. Sortino.'

• Looking at the downside risk / excess return profile of 0.91 in the last 5 years of iShares MSCI ACWI Index Fund, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (1.15)
• Compared with SPY (1.05) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside risk / excess return profile of 0.87 is lower, thus worse.

Ulcer:

'The Ulcer Index is a technical indicator that measures downside risk, in terms of both the depth and duration of price declines. The index increases in value as the price moves farther away from a recent high and falls as the price rises to new highs. The indicator is usually calculated over a 14-day period, with the Ulcer Index showing the percentage drawdown a trader can expect from the high over that period. The greater the value of the Ulcer Index, the longer it takes for a stock to get back to the former high.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (5.59 ) in the period of the last 5 years, the Downside risk index of 6.26 of iShares MSCI ACWI Index Fund is larger, thus worse.
• During the last 3 years, the Ulcer Index is 6.6 , which is higher, thus worse than the value of 6.38 from the benchmark.

MaxDD:

'Maximum drawdown is defined as the peak-to-trough decline of an investment during a specific period. It is usually quoted as a percentage of the peak value. The maximum drawdown can be calculated based on absolute returns, in order to identify strategies that suffer less during market downturns, such as low-volatility strategies. However, the maximum drawdown can also be calculated based on returns relative to a benchmark index, for identifying strategies that show steady outperformance over time.'

• The maximum drop from peak to valley over 5 years of iShares MSCI ACWI Index Fund is -33.5 days, which is larger, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (-33.7 days) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (-33.7 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum DrawDown of -33.5 days is larger, thus better.

MaxDuration:

'The Maximum Drawdown Duration is an extension of the Maximum Drawdown. However, this metric does not explain the drawdown in dollars or percentages, rather in days, weeks, or months. It is the length of time the account was in the Max Drawdown. A Max Drawdown measures a retrenchment from when an equity curve reaches a new high. It’s the maximum an account lost during that retrenchment. This method is applied because a valley can’t be measured until a new high occurs. Once the new high is reached, the percentage change from the old high to the bottom of the largest trough is recorded.'

• The maximum days below previous high over 5 years of iShares MSCI ACWI Index Fund is 373 days, which is greater, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (139 days) in the same period.
• Compared with SPY (119 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum days below previous high of 133 days is greater, thus worse.

AveDuration:

'The Drawdown Duration is the length of any peak to peak period, or the time between new equity highs. The Avg Drawdown Duration is the average amount of time an investment has seen between peaks (equity highs), or in other terms the average of time under water of all drawdowns. So in contrast to the Maximum duration it does not measure only one drawdown event but calculates the average of all.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (32 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the average time in days below previous high water mark of 80 days of iShares MSCI ACWI Index Fund is higher, thus worse.
• Looking at average days below previous high in of 27 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively larger, thus worse in comparison to SPY (25 days).