It would have been a lot more profitable if it hadn't of been for your 24% wild land. Since wild lands only collect at half efficiency, that's effectively 12% of your regional income being wasted. The raw "collectible tax gold" shows that you should have done better than break even: 408 - 191 = 217. Take out the 5 gold difference from militia and guild taxes, and you have an effective return of 212 gold. Two more than your initial investment. The inefficiency of the Wild Lands is what turned your investment from a "break even" into a loss.
Investing does, however, make a profit for the character. It's gold that the character/realm did not have before, but now it does. Investing really is not a way to actually make a profit for your character or family. It's a way to funnel gold from one realm, through your family, to a different realm.
But this is really a topic for a different thread. It's mostly OT in this one.
Also doesn't account for shift from <100% production of food to 100% production of food.
That's a negligible value if you're at 98% production or something, but if you're coming from 90% or 85%, it can be significant.
