Tools
What that fee is really costing you
A 1.8% annual fee does not cost you 1.8%. Over an investing lifetime it can quietly remove a third of everything you would otherwise have had — not because the number is large, but because you pay it every single year, on the whole balance, including on the growth it already prevented.
This is the one number in investing that is knowable in advance and entirely certain. Everything else is a forecast.
The fee costs you
€0
That is 0% of the portfolio you would otherwise have had — removed by a fee difference of 0% a year.
Low-cost ends at
€0
High-cost ends at
€0
Years of growth lost
0
Illustrative arithmetic, not a forecast. Both portfolios earn the identical gross return; the fee is modelled as a reduction to that return, which is how an OCF actually works. Excludes tax, inflation and in-fund transaction costs. Not financial advice.
How to read this
The comparison is deliberately conservative: both portfolios earn the identical gross return. No skill, no outperformance, no bad luck. The only difference is the fee. Everything you see in the gap is arithmetic, not opinion.
Where to find your actual number
- European funds and ETFs: the Ongoing Charges Figure (OCF), in the Key Information Document. A legally required disclosure.
- US funds: the net expense ratio, in the prospectus.
- Add your platform or advisory fee on top. The fee that matters is the one that leaves your account, not the one printed on the fund factsheet.
What this does not model: tax, inflation, transaction costs inside the fund, or the possibility that the expensive fund genuinely earns more. It is a clean arithmetic comparison, not a forecast.