Active return

In finance, active return refers to that segment of the returns in an investment portfolio that is due to active management decisions made by the portfolio manager. It does not include any return that is merely a function of the market's movement. The active return is calculated as the return of the portfolio minus some benchmark return, e.g. from an index fund such as the S&P 500. If R p denotes the return for the portfolio and R b denotes the return for the benchmark, then the active return is given by R p − R b , and can be either positive or negative.