However you must be careful in how you present it.(1 1/2 times what they paid for)The above is not true for example because you are comparing apples to oranges.

So January 2017, I told myself I will walk away from my Apple job by August of this year.

I'm not sure this is an apples to apples comparison.

But at that point we are not comparing apples to apples.

It might be Apple stock, fine, how well can they predict the future of stock prices and risks?

The potential for returns in our market and indeed the cash on cash I have achieved in my portfolio suggests that REI can have more upside; albeit, I am not a passive investor so this is not an apples to apples comparison. 

I received $Y in annual cash flowTo make it apples-to-apples, the $X needs to be consistent -- how much did I sink into the investment in total? 

Sometimes they are not using apples to apples comparisons when running comps.

This is different than the stock market where you have to pay the going rate if you want a stock.For example, today Apple stock is $123 a share.

Plus, that would create a scope of work that you could compare apples to apples for the contractors.