1) Cost of a 1% annual fee

Question: What is the long-term cost of a 1% investment fee?

Short answer

Using default assumptions, a 1% annual fee reduces the ending value over 30 years versus no fee.

  • Starting balance: $500,000
  • Gross return (before fee): 6%
  • Horizon: 30 years
  • Annual contribution: $0
Open the 1% fee cost calculator Browse all calculators

2) Cost of a 0.5% annual fee

Question: How much does a 0.5% fee reduce returns over 30 years?

Short answer

Using default assumptions, a 0.5% annual fee reduces the ending value over 30 years versus no fee.

  • Starting balance: $500,000
  • Gross return (before fee): 6%
  • Horizon: 30 years
  • Annual contribution: $0
Open the 0.5% fee cost calculator

3) Required excess return to offset a fee

Question: How much extra return is required to overcome a 1% annual fee?

Short answer

The required extra return is near the fee as a first approximation; the exact break-even depends on compounding, contributions, and horizon.

  • Starting balance: $500,000
  • Gross return baseline: 6%
  • Fee: 1.0%
  • Horizon: 30 years
  • Annual contribution: $0
Open the extra return calculator

4) Break-even: active vs passive fees

Question: At what fee level does active management stop outperforming passive investing?

Short answer

Active management breaks even when the required excess return equals the fee difference after compounding over the chosen horizon.

  • Starting balance: $500,000
  • Return baseline: 6%
  • Passive fee: 0.10%
  • Active fee: 1.00%
  • Horizon: 30 years
  • Annual contribution: $0
Open the break-even calculator

Notes

This hub is intentionally shallow: it provides clean questions, clean short answers, and links to canonical calculator pages where the math is shown and inputs can be changed.