If your expected return on the individual investments in your portfolio is known or can be anticipated, you can calculate the portfolio's overall rate of return using Microsoft Excel.

How to calculate Standard Deviation in Excel The Standard Deviation is a term used in statistics. The term describes how much the numbers if a set of data vary from the mean.

Learn how to calculate Standard Deviationin Excel. The STDEV function can be used to estimate standard deviation based on sample in Excel.

Nevertheless, looking at the standard deviation of your portfolio can give you at least a baseline sense of how volatile your investments will be.