Each example shows what the calculator works out for one scenario: what you put in, what it could become gross and net at a 6% return a year before costs, and what fund costs take over the horizon. The button on each page opens the example in the calculator, where you can change it yourself.
€100 to €1,000 a month, 25 to 40 years
Four monthly amounts side by side, €100 to €1,000, each with its own horizon. Shows how the result scales and what a longer horizon adds.
€10,000 or €25,000 once, 30 years
Two one-off amounts, then nothing more. Shows how costs keep running on the whole amount and how that compares with investing monthly.
0.07%, 0.20% or 1.5% in costs compared
The same plan at three cost levels side by side, with the same return, so only the effect of the costs remains.
The examples at a glance
| Example | Put in | After costs | Fund costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| €100 to €1,000 a month, 25 to 40 years | €48,000 | €191,745 | €7,405 |
| €500 a month, 25 years | €155,000 | €360,688 | €8,134 |
| €10,000 or €25,000 once, 30 years | €10,000 | €57,760 | €2,465 |
| 0.07%, 0.20% or 1.5% in costs | €155,000 | €364,728 / €357,267 / €291,868 | €4,094 / €11,555 / €76,954 |
| €300 a month, 2% more each year | €151,045 | €393,622 | €10,414 |
All examples use the same method as the calculator: monthly compounding, contributions at the end of each month and amounts rounded to whole cents. 6% a year is applied as 0.5% per month, which compounds to about 6.17% a year. The 6% is an illustrative assumption, not a forecast: real returns vary from year to year and can be negative. Tax, transaction costs and inflation are left out.
Two patterns run through all of them. Costs grow with time and with the amount invested, so the long horizons and the larger plans lose the most in euros. As a share of the gross gain they stay between 3.8% and 4.9% at a TER of 0.14%, but at 1.5% they take more than a third.
Terms used here, such as TER and fee erosion, are in the glossary.