The Investment Fees Oof · #1 in a series

gone to hidden investment fees.

Oof.

An illustrative scenario based on inputs below — not advice about your specific accounts.

Step 1 · The issue

Investment accounts charge fees people never think about. Advisors take a cut every year, and funds quietly skim a percentage off the top. Both are usually disclosed somewhere — but it's hard to understand what they add up to.

The wild part: the math is brutal, but it's also fixable. Outsized fees are addressable once you know they exist.

Step 2 · Build the scenario

Adjust the inputs to match a realistic situation. The Oof updates live.

Starting amount

The amount in the hypothetical investment account today. Average for someone in their 30s: $50k–$100k.

Monthly contribution

How much is added each month. Includes paycheck contributions to retirement accounts.

Time horizon 30 yrs

How long the money compounds. 30 years is roughly career-to-retirement for someone in their 30s.

Annual return 10%

The market's average annual return. The S&P 500 has historically averaged about 10% before inflation.

Fees in this scenario

Advisor fee

1.00%

What a financial advisor typically charges — often around 1% of the total balance every year. Sounds small. Compounds huge.

Fund fee

0.60%

What a mutual fund or ETF charges (its 'expense ratio'). Never appears as a line item — it's silently baked in. Cheap index funds: 0.05%. Many 401(k) funds: 0.75%+.

Step 3 · See the Oof

The oof. in this scenario.

The Oof in this scenario

✓ Nice

Splitting the pie

Of the $0 the scenario could've reached…

That Oof represents real money. What could it have bought instead?

Step 4 · Check your own

Want to see if this applies to you?

The fastest way to find out: ask the right person, in writing. Pick who you'd reach out to — we've got a sample email ready.

Subject

Why this works:

Want more Oofs to look out for?

One short email a week. A common Oof in everyday finance, and how to spot it. Educational, not advice.

Advisor fee

What a financial advisor charges. Usually a percentage of the balance every year (often 1%). A 1% fee means if the market returns 7%, the advisor takes 1 of every 7 dollars. Compounds to huge.

Fund fee (expense ratio)

What the fund itself charges — separate from any advisor. Never visibly leaves the account because it's baked in. Good index funds: 0.03–0.10%. Expensive funds (common in 401ks): 0.75–1.5%.

Index fund

A fund that buys the whole stock market (or a big slice) instead of picking stocks. Boring, cheap, beats most actively managed funds over long periods.

Expense ratio

Same thing as fund fee. 0.10% means 10¢ per year for every $100 invested. Tiny each year. Enormous over decades.

AUM

'Assets Under Management' — finance-speak for 'the money you have with us.' A '1% AUM fee' is 1% of the total balance every year, regardless of activity.

Fee-only advisor

An advisor who charges a flat dollar amount (say $3,000/year) instead of a percentage. As balances grow, charges don't. Almost always the better deal long-term.

Basis points (bps)

1/100th of a percent. Finance pros say '100 basis points' when they mean 1%. Mostly showing off.