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. In 2010 an academic paper highlighted this issue found with most web charts in the 'compare' mode, and was published in the
Journal of Behavioral Finance. The discrepancy between
total return charts and "price only" charts was later brought out in the Wall Street Journal.