A fee scenario, not a fund forecast
This calculator compares a constant-return investment with and without the fees you enter. It does not retrieve fund prices, recommend a share class or predict performance. All amounts use USD, and taxes, inflation, brokerage spreads and advisory charges outside the entered fees are excluded.
Copy the correct inputs from the prospectus
- Identify the exact fund share class and whether expense waivers apply for the full holding period. Enter the total expense ratio once. If 12b-1 expenses are listed, enter them as a component of that total, not an additional charge.
- Choose a gross return assumption before fees. Do not automatically use a published net fund return, which may already include operating expenses.
- Enter the starting investment, yearly contribution and whole-year horizon. Contributions occur at the start of every modeled year, including year one.
- Check each entry and exit charge against the fund's actual basis. This model applies front-end and purchase percentages to gross deposits, and exit and redemption percentages to the final balance. It cannot reproduce a declining CDSC, exemptions, sales-load breakpoints or lot-specific holding periods.
- For Compare Funds, keep starting capital, contributions, gross return and years identical. The difference then isolates modeled fees; it says nothing about differences in actual portfolio risk or management services.
How the calculation treats fees
The total expense ratio includes management, distribution/service and other operating expenses. Here it is deducted once from the balance after each year's assumed growth. The breakdown separates the entered 12b-1 component from the other operating expenses. Actual funds generally accrue expenses through net asset value; a single annual deduction is an approximation.
Entry fees reduce each deposit before investment. The annual account fee is capped at the available balance, so the simulation does not create a negative account or unpaid-fee liability. Exit fees are included in the last schedule row and the final summary. The first year's cumulative fee total also includes entry fees paid on the initial investment.
Check the model with a small example
Hypothetical one-year example: start with $10,000, make no contributions, assume a 5% gross return, and use a 1% total expense ratio containing a 0.25% 12b-1 component. With all other fees at zero, the no-fee balance is $10,500. The model deducts $105 in operating expenses—$26.25 of that is the 12b-1 component—leaving $10,395. The modeled CAGR is 3.95%. The 12b-1 component does not reduce the balance a second time.
Total fees paid counts deductions. Fee drag compares the final balances and includes subsequent growth lost on those deductions. Fees divided by the no-fee gain is unavailable when that gain is zero or negative. CAGR is unavailable when contributions are present because added capital cannot be treated as investment return.
Primary sources
- SEC Investor.gov: total annual fund operating expenses explains why 12b-1 expenses are part of the expense ratio.
- SEC Investor.gov: mutual fund and ETF fees distinguishes shareholder charges from operating expenses.