Net Fees Calculator

More than most people expect, because the fee doesn't just take a slice today, it takes a slice of every year of growth after that too. On $50,000 plus $500 a month growing at 7% gross, a 1% fee costs roughly $186,000 over 30 years compared with a 0.2% fee. Even over 20 years, moving from a 0.2% fund to a 1% fund can mean giving up tens of thousands of dollars, all from a difference that looks tiny on a fact sheet.

It depends what you're buying. Index ETFs like A200 and IVV charge around 0.04% and broad options like VAS and VGS sit between 0.07% and 0.18%, so anything under 0.5% for a passive fund is reasonable. Active managed funds typically charge 0.8% to 1.6% a year, sometimes plus a performance fee. Super funds sit lower again, with a median around 0.25% p.a. across APRA-regulated MySuper products. If you're paying 1%+ for something you could get passively for a fraction of that, it's worth asking what you're getting in return.

The same way returns compound for you, just in reverse. Each year's return is calculated on your balance, so a fee taken out today doesn't just cost you that dollar, it costs you every year of growth that dollar would have earned if it had stayed invested. Over one year the difference between a 0.2% and 1% fee is trivial. Over 30 years, on the same $50k plus $500/month scenario, that gap alone is worth roughly $186,000.

A management fee (or MER) pays the fund manager to run the underlying investment. A platform or admin fee pays whoever hosts your account, statements, reporting, access. Brokerage is a one-off cost each time you buy or sell. You can pay all three at once, for example an ETF's MER plus your broker's platform fee plus brokerage on each trade, so the number that matters is the total, not any single line item.

Since ASIC's RG 97 update, Product Disclosure Statements issued from 30 September 2022 must disclose fees and costs using a standardised methodology, and performance fees must be shown separately rather than buried inside a single management fee figure. That makes it easier to compare funds on a like-for-like basis, though you still need to read the PDS rather than rely on the headline number on a marketing page.

Yes, super funds tend to sit at the cheaper end. APRA's MySuper data puts the median around 0.25% p.a., and industry funds like AustralianSuper charge a flat $1 a week plus roughly 0.10-0.12% capped on investment fees. That's generally lower than paying an adviser (typically 1-2% p.a., with a median around $3,960 a year) or holding an active managed fund outside super.

The evidence says the opposite, on average. ASX data from 2024 put the average active fund fee at around 1% versus about 0.38% for passive funds, and most active funds still underperform their benchmark after fees over the long run. A higher fee pays for the attempt to beat the market, not a guarantee of doing so. That doesn't mean every active fund is bad, but the fee itself isn't evidence of skill.

MER is the annual fee a fund charges to manage your money, shown as a percentage of your balance and usually taken out of the fund's returns before you see them rather than billed separately. Index ETFs in Australia range from about 0.04% (A200, IVV) up to 0.18% (VGS), while active funds commonly sit at 0.8% to 1.6%. It's the single biggest lever most investors have over their long-term costs.

Enter your starting balance, regular contribution and expected gross return, then enter the annual fee percentage your fund, platform or adviser charges. The calculator projects your balance with and without that fee applied, and shows the dollar gap between the two, which is the true long-term cost of the fee, not just the percentage.

Not usually. The MER covers the base management fee. Performance fees are charged separately, typically 10-30% of any outperformance above a benchmark, and since RG 97, funds have to disclose them as a distinct line item rather than folding them into a single headline number. Always check both figures before comparing two active funds.

On $50,000 plus $500 a month at 7% gross, the worked example puts a 0.2% fee fund at roughly $907,000 after 30 years versus about $762,000 for a 1% fee fund, a gap of around $145,000 from the fee difference alone. Run your own numbers through the calculator above, since your starting balance, contributions and timeframe will change the exact figure.

For most people, cost is a good starting filter, since index ETFs in Australia run 0.04% to 0.5% against 0.8% to 1.6%+ for active funds, and most active funds underperform after fees anyway. But cheap isn't the whole story, check what the fund actually holds and whether it matches the exposure you want. A low-fee fund that doesn't do what you need isn't a bargain.