Retirement Plan Fee Drag Calculator

Enter your current balance and what you contribute each month. Set the years until you expect to retire on the slider, which runs from 1 to 40. Then enter two fee levels: the all-in annual cost of your current plan, and a comparison figure. The last slider sets the assumed gross annual return, from 3% to 9% in half point steps.

The tool runs both scenarios with monthly compounding, subtracting each annual fee from the assumed return, and adding your contribution every month. You get the ending balance under each fee, the dollar difference between them, and that difference expressed as years of your own contributions, which is usually the number that lands hardest. Below that, a chart plots both paths year by year.

Your plan's all-in annual cost is the figure you need, and it is not always one number on the statement. It can include the fund expense ratio, an administrative or recordkeeping fee, an advisory or wrap fee, and, in an annuity product, mortality and expense charges. The fee disclosure document your plan is required to provide is where to find it.

Nothing you enter is saved or sent anywhere. No email field, no account. Reload the page and it has forgotten you.

The model is deliberately simple, and the simplicity is the point. Nothing is hidden in it.

The assumptions you control

Six inputs: starting balance, monthly contribution, years until retirement, your plan's all-in annual fee, a comparison fee, and an assumed gross annual return. Every one of those is a figure you set. The tool has no opinion about what any of them should be.

The compounding

Each scenario takes your assumed gross return, subtracts that scenario's flat annual fee, and compounds the result monthly while adding your contribution at the end of each month. Both scenarios get identical money in and identical assumed markets. The fee is the only difference between the two lines.

What the chart shows

Two paths plotted year by year to the end of your chosen period. They separate slowly at first and then widen, because the fee is charged on a balance that is itself growing. That widening shape is the entire lesson.

The values pre-filled in the fee boxes are illustrative examples chosen to show a spread. They are not any specific plan's fees, and you should replace both with real numbers before you draw a conclusion about your own situation.

This is a hypothetical illustration, not a forecast, and it leaves out a great deal on purpose.

• It is not a projection of your balance. Real returns vary year to year and can be negative. A constant return is a teaching device, not a description of any market that has ever existed. Past performance guarantees nothing.
• It does not recommend a plan, a product, or a move. A lower fee is not automatically the better choice once surrender charges, guarantees, employer match rules, and your own tax picture enter the room. Review your actual fee disclosures with a licensed CPA or a fee-only advisor before changing anything.
• Fees are not always one flat number. The model subtracts a single annual percentage. Real plans layer expense ratios, administrative fees, advisory fees, and in annuity products mortality and expense charges, and some are charged on contributions rather than assets. Read the disclosure rather than guessing.
• It ignores taxes. No traditional versus Roth treatment, no withdrawal taxation, no required distributions.
• It ignores raises. Your contribution is level for the whole period. Most careers do not work that way.
• It cannot see surrender charges. Some products charge to leave, on a schedule that declines over years. If you are comparing because you are considering a change, that charge belongs in the comparison and this tool does not know about it.
• It does not know your plan. What is available to you is set by your employer's plan menu. The alternative you are comparing against may or may not be an option you actually have.

The useful takeaway is direction rather than a dollar figure: over a long career, fees compound the same way returns do, and that is worth a careful look at your disclosure document.