Investment Fee Calculator

A 1% fee sounds tiny. Compounded over decades, it isn't. Compare two expense ratios side by side and see what the difference actually costs you.

Paying 1% for something an index fund does for 0.03%?

Low-cost brokers offer broad index funds with expense ratios under 0.10% - the single easiest fee cut most investors can make.

Compare low-cost index-fund brokers

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Why fees hurt more than they look

An expense ratio is skimmed off your balance every year, whether the market goes up or down. The visible cost - 1% of this year's balance - is only the start. The real damage is that every dollar taken in fees stops compounding for you from that year forward. Run the defaults above and the gap between a 0.05% and a 1.00% fee is not 0.95% of your money; it is a six-figure difference in final wealth.

Net annual return = gross return − fee → FV = P × (1 + net)^t + contributions compounded at net

This calculator subtracts each fee from the gross return, converts the result to an effective monthly rate, and grows your balance month by month with contributions added. The only variable that changes between the two lines on the chart is the fee - everything else is identical, so the widening gap is purely the cost of the higher fee.

Frequently asked questions

Why do small fees compound into such big losses?

A fee removes a slice of your balance every single year, and that slice would itself have compounded for all the remaining years. Losing 1% annually doesn't cost you 1% - over 30 years it can consume a quarter of your final wealth.

What is a reasonable expense ratio today?

Broad stock and bond index funds now charge 0.02-0.10% per year. Anything approaching 1% deserves real scrutiny: ask what you're getting that a cheap index fund doesn't provide.

Do advisor fees work the same way?

Yes. A 1% assets-under-management fee behaves exactly like a 1% expense ratio - it's deducted from your balance every year and compounds against you the same way, on top of any fund fees you also pay.