Small fees. Large numbers.
Mutual funds and ETFs charge an expense ratio every year, taken straight out of your balance. No bill ever arrives. Enter your plan and see what the fee costs by the end of it.
What the calculator assumes
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Two balances, side by side
One grows at the gross return. The other grows at the gross return minus the expense ratio.
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Once a year
Growth is applied annually, and your contribution is added at the end of each year.
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The gap is the cost
What the fees take is the difference between the two balances in the final year.
Your plan
Filled in with an example. Change any of it.
How the math works
The fee compounds right alongside you.
An expense ratio is not charged once. It comes out of the balance every year, so every dollar it takes also stops earning a return for the rest of the plan.
No fees: B = B × (1 + R) + C
After fees: B = B × (1 + R − E) + C
- B
- The balance, starting at your initial amount and updated once a year.
- R
- Your gross rate of return.
- E
- The expense ratio.
- C
- Your annual contribution, added at the end of each year.
Both balances run for the length of the plan. The cost is the first minus the second after the final year, rounded to the nearest dollar. Rates are read to two decimal places, so an expense ratio of 0.025% is counted as 0.03%.
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