See how much of your future wealth goes to fund expense ratios and advisor fees, including the growth you lose on the money paid away. Handles flat and tiered advisor fees, and compares two funds side by side.
Compare fee levels
| Total annual fee | Final balance | Cost of fees | Wealth lost |
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Updated 24 October 2026. Results are estimates for information only, not financial, tax, legal or investment advice. Actual rates, fees, taxes and rules vary. How our calculators work
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How to use the Investment Fee Calculator
- Enter your current invested balance, your monthly contribution and how many years you’ll stay invested.
- Enter the expected annual return before fees and the fund expense ratio. Add an advisor or platform fee, either as a flat percentage or as tiers (for example 1% on the first $1 million).
- Compare the final balance with and without fees. Enter a second fund’s expense ratio to compare the two, and use the table to see common fee levels.
About this tool
Fund fees are quoted as a small annual percentage, which makes them look harmless. But they are charged every year on your whole balance, and the money taken never gets to compound. A 1% fee on a 7% return isn’t 1% of your money — it’s a seventh of your return, every year, for decades. Over 30 years that typically removes a quarter of the final balance.
How to calculate investment management fees
- Flat advisor fee: balance × fee rate. 1% on $250,000 is $2,500 a year. Advisors usually bill it quarterly, so $625 a quarter, on the balance at the time.
- Tiered advisor fee: each slice of the balance pays its own rate. With 1% on the first $1 million and 0.75% above it, $1.5 million pays $10,000 + $3,750 = $13,750 a year, a blended 0.92%.
- Fund expense ratio: balance × expense ratio. $10,000 in a fund with a 0.50% expense ratio costs $50 a year. You never see a bill: it is taken out of the fund’s returns every day.
- Total cost: add the two rates. A 0.50% fund held through a 1% advisor costs 1.50% a year.
The calculator grows your money month by month: it adds a month’s return, takes a month’s fees (one-twelfth of the annual rates, worked out on that month’s balance, so tiers are applied as the balance grows), then adds your contribution. It runs the same money again with no fees, and the difference is the true cost: the fees you paid plus all the growth they would have earned.
Frequently asked questions
What is a typical expense ratio?
Broad index funds and ETFs: 0.03%–0.20%. Actively managed funds: 0.5%–1.5%. Add any platform or advisor fee on top — traditional advisors often charge about 1% of assets per year.
How do I calculate investment management fees?
Multiply your balance by the annual fee rate: 1% of $250,000 is $2,500 a year. For a fund, multiply the amount invested by the expense ratio. To see the long-run cost, including the growth the fees would have earned, enter your figures above.
How does a tiered advisor fee work?
Like tax brackets: each slice of your balance pays its own rate, so crossing a threshold only lowers the rate on the money above it. Choose “Tiered schedule” above and enter your advisor’s rates; the calculator reapplies them every month as your balance grows.
Is a 1% advisor fee worth it?
The calculator shows what it costs in money terms; only you can judge the value of the advice. For a 30-year horizon the cost is usually around a quarter of your final balance, so the advice needs to add at least that much.
Does the return I enter include fees?
Enter the gross return (before fees). If you only know a net figure, add the fee back on first.
Are trading costs and taxes included?
No. Bid-ask spreads, transaction fees and taxes are extra. They matter less than ongoing percentage fees for most long-term investors, but they are not zero.