Investment Fee Calculator
A "small" 1% fee is not small. See how it compounds against you for decades - quietly taking a fifth or more of your final wealth - and exactly what your fees really cost over a lifetime of investing.
Assumes a steady annual return and a constant fee charged on assets, compounded monthly. The "fees paid" is the money skimmed; the far larger "wealth lost" adds the growth those fees never earned. A model, not a forecast. Not financial advice.
Frequently asked
How much do investment fees really cost?
Far more than the headline percentage suggests. A "small" 1% annual fee does not just cost 1% - it compounds against you every year for decades. On a lifetime of investing it commonly erodes 20-30% of your final wealth, because every dollar taken in fees is also a dollar that never got to grow. This calculator shows both the fees you pay and the far larger sum they quietly cost you.
What counts as an investment fee?
Anything that skims a percentage of your assets each year: fund expense ratios (TER), platform or custody fees, and advisory or wrap fees. Add them together into one "total annual fee" above. A low-cost index fund might total 0.1-0.3%; an actively managed fund plus an adviser can easily reach 2%+ - and the gap, compounded over decades, is enormous.
Why is the wealth lost bigger than the fees I paid?
Because a fee is not a one-time cost - it removes money that would otherwise have kept compounding. If a fee takes $1,000 from your account this year, you do not just lose $1,000; you lose everything that $1,000 would have grown into over the rest of your investing life. The calculator separates the two: the fees actually paid, and the extra "lost compounding" on top.
Is a 1% fee worth it for better returns?
Only if it reliably delivers more than 1% of extra return after costs, every year - which decades of evidence show most active managers do not. The fee is certain; the outperformance is not. That is why low-cost, broadly diversified index funds have become the default for cost-conscious investors. Lowering your fee is one of the few "free" ways to raise your net return.
Are these results exact?
They assume a steady annual return and a constant fee, compounded monthly - a clean model, not a forecast. Real returns vary year to year, but the core lesson is robust: fees compound relentlessly and their long-term drag is much larger than the annual number implies. Use it to compare fee levels, not to predict an exact balance.
Does Alvest show my real, after-fee returns?
Yes. Alvest tracks the real, after-inflation performance of your actual portfolio and helps you see the drag from costs and taxes - so you know your true net return, not the gross one. You can start free.