Investment Fee Impact
See how different expense ratios compound over time. Compare a higher-fee fund vs a low-cost alternative, and quantify how much of your future wealth is lost to fees instead of compounding for you.
Assumptions
Quick presets:
Fee Settings
Fees here represent the annual expense ratio (or advisory fee) on the portfolio. Real-world results depend on trading costs, taxes, and behavior, but the compounding math is similar.
Growth Comparison
No-fee baseline
963.9K
Fund A (higher fee)
772.3K
Fund B (lower fee)
953.1K
The bars show your projected portfolio value after fees. The gap between each bar and the no-fee baseline is wealth that went to fees instead of staying invested.
End Value Snapshot
Total contributions$200,000
No-fee baseline value$963,894
Fund A (higher fee)$772,315
Fund B (lower fee)$953,139
Extra wealth by choosing Fund B over Fund A$180,823
Fee Drag Breakdown
Fund A fee drag vs no-fee baseline$191,579
Share of potential wealth lost19.9%
Average fee drag per year$6,386/yr
Fund B fee drag vs no-fee baseline$10,755
Share of potential wealth lost1.1%
Average fee drag per year$359/yr
Fee drag is how much lower your ending balance is compared to an identical no-fee portfolio. The percentage shows the share of your potential future wealth lost to fees.
Plain-English Summary
- • Over 30.0 years, you're planning to invest a total of $200,000 (starting balance plus ongoing contributions).
- • If there were no fees at all, your portfolio might grow to about $963,894 at 8.0% gross.
- • With Fund A's fee of 1.00%, you give up roughly $191,579 of that potential, versus $10,755 lost with Fund B at 0.05%.
- • Choosing the lower-cost Fund B instead of Fund A leaves you with about $180,823 more at the end, assuming the same gross market return and behavior.