Investment fee calculator

How the calculation works

Each year the balance grows by the assumed rate, an end-of-year contribution is added, and the fee percent is applied to the balance. The difference between the no-fee path and the fee path is the drag. Rounding is to cents. The fee is a single percentage you type, so you must add platform, fund and advice charges yourself if you want them included.

Assumptions

• The growth rate is constant and is your illustration.
• The fee is a percent of balance, taken once a year, not a trading commission.
• Taxes are ignored.
• A fee of zero is a useful check, not a real platform.

A worked example

A 100,000 balance, no contributions, 5% assumed growth and a 0.40% fee over 20 years will show a smaller ending balance than the same path without the fee. The gap is the point. Neither ending balance is an expectation WiT Markets holds.

Limitations

Flat commissions, bid-ask spreads and FX charges are not in this model. A platform that wins on the annual percent can still lose on those. Projected balances are illustrative and not guaranteed.

Change one input at a time if a result looks surprising. The arithmetic is only as careful as the numbers you type, and it does not know your broker’s contract size.