How much will a 1% fee cost me over 30 years?
See what a yearly fund or advisor fee takes from your balance over time, in today’s dollars, compared with a low-cost fund.
WHAT YOUR FEE COSTS
$681k
At these inputs, paying 1% a year instead of 0.05% leaves you $680,765 less after 31 years, in today’s dollars; $1,701,966 in the dollars of that year: $2,820,644 instead of $3,501,409.
With your fee
$2.82M
With the comparison
$3.50M
If there were no fee
$3.54M
Growth taken by fee
26%
UNDERSTAND YOUR RESULT
How your balance grows with each fee, in today’s dollars
Your feeComparison fundNo fee
After 31 years the 1% fee leaves $2,820,644 in today’s dollars, the 0.05% fund $3,501,409, and a fee-free fund (which does not exist) $3,541,820.
What each fee level leaves you, in today’s dollars
0.05%
$3.50M
0.25%
$3.34M
0.5%
$3.16M
0.75%
$2.98M
1%
$2.82M
1.5%
$2.52M
2%
$2.26M
On the same money and the same 7% return before fees, a 0.05% fee leaves $3,501,409 after 31 years and a 2% fee $2,255,996, in today’s dollars; yours is highlighted.
The gap, year by year
| Year | Your fee | 0.05% fee | Extra cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | $742,571 | $770,713 | $28,141 |
| 10 | $1,079,525 | $1,157,795 | $78,270 |
| 15 | $1,437,948 | $1,593,755 | $155,807 |
| 20 | $1,825,349 | $2,093,007 | $267,658 |
| 25 | $2,249,822 | $2,672,358 | $422,536 |
| 30 | $2,720,213 | $3,351,588 | $631,375 |
| 31 | $2,820,644 | $3,501,409 | $680,765 |
The gap widens every year because the fee is charged on the growth as well as the money put in: $28,141 after 5 years, $680,765 after 31, in today’s dollars.
What moves the needle
Each row re-runs the calculation with one change. Click to apply.How it's computed
FORMULA
Return you keep = return before fees − yearly fee
Monthly rate = (1 + return you keep)^(1/12) − 1
Balance = today’s balance × (1 + rate)^months + monthly amount × ((1 + rate)^months − 1) ÷ rate
Today’s dollars = balance ÷ (1 + inflation)^years
- The fee is a share of your assets taken every year, so it is charged on the growth as well as on the money you put in. The return you keep is the return before fees minus the fee (the convention the Department of Labor uses for 401(k) fees).
- Both funds are assumed to earn the same 7% a year before fees, compounding monthly, with the monthly amount added at the end of each month. A higher-cost fund would have to earn more before fees to come out even; this page cannot tell you whether one will.
- Results are in today’s dollars: the final balance divided by inflation compounded over the years. The dollars of the final year are also in the headline sentence.
- Only the yearly fee is modelled. Sales loads, trading costs, taxes and the difference between funds’ returns are not.
- A fee-free fund does not exist. “If there were no fee” is the ceiling, shown so you can see how much of the growth the fee takes.
WORKED EXAMPLE · SAMPLE NUMBERS
$420,000 today plus $4,300 a month for 31 years at 7% before fees. Your 1% fee leaves a 6.00% return, which grows it to $7,051,836. The 0.05% fund keeps 6.95% and reaches $8,753,803. The gap is $1,701,966; divided by (1 + 3%)^31 = 2.500 that is $680,765 in today’s dollars. You put in $2,019,600 in all.
SOURCES
[1]Trends in the Expenses and Fees of Funds, 2025Investment Company Institute, March 25, 2026[2]A Look at 401(k) Plan FeesU.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration[3]Mutual Fund and ETF Fees and ExpensesInvestor.gov, U.S. Securities and Exchange CommissionHSBuilt by Hussain Sehorewala · checked against worked examples · Sep 29, 2026
Keep this number honest as your life changes.
Put it on your Money Map and it re-runs as you change the seven numbers. It stays in this browser, and the calculator stays free.
Questions about this result
On $100,000 invested for 30 years at 7% a year before fees, a 1% yearly fee leaves $574,349 instead of $761,226 with no fee: $186,876 less, about a quarter of the final balance. The cost grows with the balance, the years and the amount you keep adding, which is why this page starts from your own numbers.
The fee is charged every year on the whole balance, growth included, so it takes money that would have compounded. The Department of Labor’s example: $25,000 growing at 7% for 35 years is about $227,000 with a 0.5% fee and about $163,000 with a 1.5% fee, a 28% smaller balance from a one-point difference.
The expense ratio is the yearly fee a fund takes, as a share of what you have in it. The Investment Company Institute reported that in 2025 the median US equity mutual fund charged 0.99% and the asset-weighted average was 0.40%; index equity mutual funds averaged 0.05% and index equity ETFs 0.14%.
Not automatically. The expense ratio covers the fund. An advisor’s fee, a platform fee, sales loads and trading costs are charged separately, so add the ones you pay to the fund’s expense ratio to get the number this page asks for.
Only if it earns enough more before fees to cover the extra fee, and that cannot be known in advance. This page assumes both funds earn the same before fees; to test a different belief, raise the return by the amount you expect and compare again.
Inflation, yes: results are in today’s dollars, using the inflation rate you set. Taxes, sales loads and trading costs are not modelled, and the return is an assumption, not a forecast.
THE LEDGER · 12 minThe Advanced 2026 Tax Strategies That Create Generational Wealth
THE LEDGER · 8 minWhy Generic AI Falls Short for Financial Advice - And How Specialized Knowledge Changes Everything