Fund vs ETF fee calculator

€40,000+ lost to fees — how it happens

Imagine two investors. Both put €20,000 down as a lump sum and add €200 a month for 25 years. Both earn the same 8 % gross annual return. The only difference: the first pays a 2 % annual fee inside a fund, the second 0.2 % inside an ETF. The result — a gap of more than €40,000.

This isn't hypothetical — those are the calculator's default settings above. The reason is mechanical: the fee is charged on the entire portfolio, not on the contributions. By year 15, the 2 % is no longer being applied to €20,000; it is being applied to a six-figure pot, including all accumulated returns. The drag accelerates each year.

How to use the calculator in 3 steps

What "annual fee" really means and where to find it

On the fund factsheet, look for the TER (Total Expense Ratio) or "ongoing charges". It bundles fund management, administration and every recurring cost — a single number telling you what share of your portfolio leaks out in fees each year.

Typical European ranges: actively managed mutual funds usually charge 1.5–2.5 % a year. Index-tracking ETFs sit between 0.05–0.30 %. Robo-advisers (Trade Republic Pension, Scalable Capital, Vanguard LifeStrategy and similar) generally land at 0.5–1.2 % all-in.

Entry fees: a hidden tax on every contribution

The entry fee (also called "front-end load" or "subscription fee") is deducted from every euro you put in — the lump sum and every monthly contribution. For funds sold through banks or advisers it tends to sit at 1–5 %. That means a €200 monthly contribution with a 3 % entry load only puts €194 into the fund. Over 25 years, the entry fees alone on recurring contributions add up to a four-figure leak.

ETFs bought through an online broker normally carry no entry fee — only the broker's transaction fee per trade, often a few euros or even zero on no-commission platforms.

Inflation: what the result is really worth

The calculator can optionally convert the result into real purchasing power. Just set the inflation parameter above zero — a new column appears in the table with the inflation-adjusted value for both scenarios. With an 8 % nominal return and 3 % inflation, the real return is roughly 5 %. Over 25 years the gap between nominal and real value is large, and worth keeping in mind.

Real-world example: bank fund vs online broker

Verify the result in the calculator above — these are the default inputs. The gap exceeds €40,000, and that's the real price of staying in the more expensive product. Both scenarios assume the same gross return; in practice, the majority of actively managed funds fail to beat the index over the long run, so the real-world difference is usually even larger.

What the calculator does not model

The model assumes a constant annual return, which doesn't reflect real-world volatility — in practice there are positive and negative years. It does not include taxes (rules differ by country — capital-gains tax, dividend tax and shelter accounts such as ISAs in the UK or PEAs in France change the picture), exit loads, fund-switching fees, or currency risk on foreign-domiciled ETFs. It's an illustrative model that isolates the impact of one variable — fees — for a clean comparison.