Pick a scenario or enter your numbers. The calculator shows — in real dollars — how much each fund's expense ratio erodes your balance over time.
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First issue of The Expense Report lands next week. In the meantime, check the year-by-year breakdown below — it shows exactly how those fees stack up year by year.
Year-by-year breakdown of your balance and cumulative fees paid.
Want to understand why fees compound so aggressively? Read our full expense ratios guide →
SPY (0.0945%) and VOO (0.03%) track the same index. On a $100,000 investment over 30 years at 8% annual return, that 0.065% difference compounds to roughly $25,000 in extra fees paid to SPY. Same market exposure. Same underlying stocks. Different take-home. That is the fee problem.
An expense ratio is the annual cost of owning an ETF, expressed as a percentage of your total investment. A 0.10% expense ratio means you pay $10 per year for every $10,000 invested. A 1.00% ratio means you're paying $100 per year on that same $10,000.
Here's the part that trips people up: you never see this fee deducted. It comes out of the fund's Net Asset Value (NAV) daily, on a pro-rated basis. The fund's price simply grows a little slower than it otherwise would. There's no line item, no statement entry, no notification. The fund reports performance net of fees, so the cost is already baked into the chart you're looking at — which is exactly why most investors don't notice it until they run a calculator.
The real danger of expense ratios isn't the fee itself — it's the compounding effect on the fee. As your portfolio grows, the dollar amount you pay in fees grows with it. A 0.75% fee on a $10,000 portfolio is $75/year. On $200,000 it's $1,500/year. On $500,000 it's $3,750/year. Every single year, automatically, before you see a cent.
The second layer: because that fee drains your balance, you also lose the compound growth on the money you paid in fees. You're not just losing the $3,750 — you're losing what $3,750 would have grown to over the following 10, 15, 20 years. The percentage stays the same; the dollar cost of that percentage grows every year your portfolio does. That's why the gap between a 0.05% fund and a 0.75% fund looks small on paper and significant on a 30-year chart.
This calculator uses monthly compounding — the same math your actual fund uses — to show you the real impact. The numbers it produces are not dramatic estimates. They're arithmetic.
Every ETF discloses its expense ratio — it's a required regulatory disclosure, not something funds can hide. Here's where to find it:
The fastest method is to search the ticker symbol on the fund provider's website (Vanguard, iShares, Schwab, Fidelity, etc.) or on a free tool like ETF.com or Morningstar. The expense ratio appears prominently in the fund's summary stats. You can also find it on most brokerage platforms — Fidelity, Schwab, and TD Ameritrade all display it clearly in the fund detail view.
As a general rule: the simpler and more passive the fund, the lower the expense ratio should be. If an ETF claims to just track the S&P 500 but charges 0.50%, that's a red flag — there are multiple S&P 500 ETFs charging under 0.05%. Actively managed ETFs legitimately charge more, but those higher fees need to be justified by consistent outperformance — which most never deliver. Check our ETF Glossary for more definitions, or take the Investor Profiler to find ETF categories that suit your goals.
Educational purposes only. This calculator is designed to illustrate the mathematical impact of expense ratios on investment growth. It does not constitute financial advice, investment recommendations, or personalized guidance. Results are hypothetical and based on the inputs you provide — actual returns will vary. ETF BFF is not a registered investment advisor. Past market performance is not indicative of future results. Always conduct your own research and consult a qualified financial professional before making investment decisions.