Planted North

Tools · Fund fee check

What do your funds cost, in dollars?

Fund fees are quoted as a small percentage and never arrive as a bill. List what you hold and see the yearly cost, and what it adds up to over time.

BetaIllustration, not a forecastYour numbers stay on your deviceEducational, not financial advice

Your funds

One line per fund. The names are only for you, and nothing is saved or sent.

$a month

Split across your funds in today's proportions. Use 0 if you have stopped adding.

%

A broad index ETF's fee is often a fraction of 1%. This is an example, not a recommendation.

Yearly return before fees

Nobody knows the real number. The same return is used for every fund, so only the fees differ.

Your funds cost you about
$0 a year

After 10 years
$0
After 20 years
$0
After 30 years
$0
Where this year's fees come from
Show the projection as a table

This year's cost is each balance multiplied by its fee. The projection assumes a constant yearly return, fees taken as a percentage of the balance, monthly compounding and deposits at the end of each month. Real returns move up and down and are never guaranteed. Fees can also change.

How to read this

The first number is what your funds take this year at today's balances. It grows as your balance grows, because the fee is a percentage of everything you hold, not only of what you add.

The 10, 20 and 30 year numbers are larger than the fees added up. They also count the growth that money would have earned if it had stayed invested. They compare your funds with the same money at the lower fee you typed in.

A fee is a price, not a penalty. It can pay for advice, a plan or someone to call, and good advice can be worth paying for. The point of this tool is to see the price in dollars, so you can decide whether what you get is worth it.

Your move · 10 minutes

Fill in your real numbers

  1. Open your account and write down each fund you hold and how much is in it.
  2. Find each fund's MER in its Fund Facts or ETF Facts document. It is usually on the first or second page.
  3. If you work with an adviser, ask one question: "What do I pay in total each year, in dollars?" Compare the answer with the number above.
Go deeperTool: compare two feesLesson: Fees, the slow leakGlossary: MERAll tools
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Sources and method

Where this comes from

  • The calculation is Planted North's own and uses the same method as the fee calculator and the fees lesson.
  • The starting numbers are examples, not quotes for any fund. Always check the Fund Facts or ETF Facts for the fund you hold.
  • The MER is not always the whole cost. Trading costs inside the fund (the TER) and fees an adviser or platform charges separately are not in it. Add them to the fee box if you know them.
  • This tool looks at fees only. It does not include taxes, trading commissions, currency conversion or inflation, and it does not judge whether a fund is good or bad.