Browse Investing

Realized, Discount, and Cost Yields

Realized yield, discount yield, and yield-on-cost terms used in investment return analysis.

Realized, Discount, and Cost Yields terms explain how investment results are measured, compared, annualized, compounded, distributed, or translated into yield language.

Use this branch when the question depends on the exact return formula, time period, reinvestment assumption, fee treatment, tax treatment, or income-versus-price return split.

Key Terms in This Branch

TermUse it for
Discount YieldA measurement term for comparing investment income, growth, or total performance.
Realized YieldA measurement term for comparing investment income, growth, or total performance.
Yield on Cost (YOC)A measurement term for comparing investment income, growth, or total performance.

What to Check

Check the formula, measurement period, compounding convention, cash-flow timing, reinvestment assumption, fees, taxes, currency, and whether the result is historical, expected, quoted, or realized.

Common Mistakes

  • Comparing returns from different periods or compounding conventions.
  • Treating quoted yield or expected return as the same as realized performance.
  • Ignoring fees, taxes, currency, reinvestment, and cash-flow timing.
  • Mixing income return, price return, and total return without labeling each measure.

This page is educational and does not recommend a specific investment strategy, security, tax treatment, or account choice.

In this section

Choose a subsection first. Deeper term pages live inside each subsection, which keeps large topic hubs readable.

Discount Yield

Discount yield quotes the return on short-term discount instruments using the discount from face value and a day-count convention.

Realized Yield

Realized yield measures the actual return earned after coupons, reinvestment, sale price, holding period, and cash-flow timing are known.

Yield on Cost (YOC)

Yield on cost compares current annual income with the investor's original purchase price rather than the asset's current market price.

Revised on Sunday, June 21, 2026