Investment Fee Calculator

How to use

1. 1Pick a quick scenario at the top, or fill in the fields directly with your own portfolio numbers.
2. 2Enter the starting balance, the contribution amount and cadence (monthly, yearly, or none), and the time horizon in years.
3. 3Set the gross annual return before fees, then the higher all-in fee (expense ratio plus any advisor or wrap fee) and the cheaper benchmark fee to compare against.
4. 4Read the lifetime fee impact, the two final balances side by side, and the share of growth and final balance lost to fees.
5. 5Scroll the year-by-year table to see how the gap widens, then tap Copy summary to share or save the result.

About this tool

Investment Fee Calculator shows the lifetime dollar cost of fund expense ratios and advisor fees by running two parallel portfolios side by side. You enter a starting balance, an optional regular contribution (monthly or yearly), a gross annual return before fees, and two fees to compare: an all-in higher fee made up of the fund expense ratio plus any optional advisor or wrap fee, and a benchmark fee that represents the cheaper alternative such as a 0.04% total-market index ETF. The tool then simulates both portfolios month by month for the chosen time horizon (up to 70 years), applying contributions at the end of each month and crediting the monthly net return on the new balance. The headline result is the gap between the two final balances, which is the wealth you would keep if you paid the benchmark fee instead of the higher fee. Three supporting figures break that gap down: the share of your no-fee growth that disappears in fees, the share of the no-fee endpoint that goes to fees, and a rough estimate of how many extra years of growth the higher fee costs you (the date the cheaper portfolio first matches the higher-fee final balance). A year-by-year table shows the two balances side by side along with the fee gap each year and cumulatively, so you can see how the drag compounds. Five one-click presets cover the most common questions: index fund versus active fund, a typical 401(k) menu against a low-cost index target-date fund, a 1% advisor wrap on top of a 0.50% fund, a lump-sum portfolio with no new contributions, and an early-career saver with a small fee. Eight currencies (USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, JPY, INR, TRY) format the dollar amounts correctly. The calculation uses the standard simplification taught in personal finance and used by retirement planners: monthly net return equals annual gross return minus the all-in fee, divided by twelve, applied as a constant drag. Real markets are volatile, so results are a long-run planning estimate and not a forecast, but the share of returns lost to fees is robust to that variability. Useful for choosing between two mutual funds at work, deciding whether a 1% advisor relationship is worth the cost, comparing target-date fund share classes, and any decision where a small expense ratio difference looks harmless. Nothing is uploaded; the whole simulation runs locally in your browser.

Free to use. Works in your browser. No signup, no login.