Calculate how investment fees (expense ratios, advisory fees, loads) compound and reduce portfolio value over your investment horizon.
Fee drag becomes visible when the same portfolio is projected across an investment horizon with expense ratios, advisory charges, and sales loads included. This calculator converts those percentage costs into changes in ending portfolio value, including the future growth lost when money leaves the account as fees. The common surprise is that a seemingly small annual fee does not merely subtract the quoted percentage once. It repeatedly reduces the balance available to earn subsequent returns, so its cumulative effect grows with time.
Expense ratios and advisory fees are recurring percentage charges against portfolio assets. The calculator incorporates those charges over the selected horizon, reducing both the balance and the later returns that balance could have earned. Percentage entry matters: in a field labeled as a percent, 1 means 1%, while 0.01 means 0.01%. Entering the decimal form can understate the fee by a factor of 100.
A sales load is a one-time charge rather than an annual expense. A front-end load reduces the amount initially invested, while a back-end or deferred load reduces proceeds when the investment is sold. The timing changes which dollars are available to compound. Use the load type and rate shown in the investment's current disclosure rather than treating every sales charge as an additional annual fee.
No. A 1% recurring fee is charged against assets repeatedly, and each charge also removes money that otherwise could have earned later returns. The ending-value difference therefore depends on the investment horizon, assumed return, balance path, and any contributions or withdrawals. It should not be read as a one-time 1% reduction from the final fee-free value.
No. It can quantify the effect of the fees under the assumptions supplied, but it cannot establish that a fund or adviser will deliver better performance, risk control, service, or tax outcomes. Compare the projection with the investment's objectives, risks, services, benchmark, and disclosures. Lower cost improves the result when all other assumptions are identical, but real investments are not always identical.
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