Boatnmaniac said: @kashg - I don't believe Amount Invested has anything to do with returns calculations. It is simply the amount of dollars invested over time and it includes investment expenses in that calculation. It is a cumulative thing so every time you add new funds to an investment account the Amount Invested goes up. Selling shares and transferring the proceeds out of the account or closing the account does not reduce the Amount Invested in that account.
Amount invested is the actual dollar amount that you've invested in a security to date. Amount invested includes any expenses (such as commissions and fees) for that security. It does not include reinvested amounts, such as reinvested dividends, interest, or capital gains distributions.
Amount invested doesn't decrease when you sell shares (unless you sell all shares of a given security—then it goes to zero), whereas cost basis does. If calculations such as ROI appear lower than you would expect, it could be because the amount invested includes the cost of shares you no longer own.
