Tools
Investment calculator
Enter what you actually plan to invest and see the projected value month by month — including the fees most calculators quietly leave out. Every figure below is an illustration built from your own assumptions.
Methodology & assumptions
The projection runs month by month. Your annual return assumption is converted to a compounding-consistent monthly rate, contributions are added according to the timing you choose, and the annual fund cost is deducted from the balance each month.
Contributions accumulate as cash and are invested when an order is placed. If you set fewer transactions per year, the money waits in cash between orders and does not earn a return during that time — which is what happens with a real periodic sweep.
Inflation is applied at the end to show the value in today's money. Taxes, withholding on dividends, spreads and any account-level charges are not included. This is an illustration built from your assumptions, not a forecast, and past performance does not predict future results.
Common questions
- What return should I assume?
- There is no correct number. Broad equity markets have historically delivered mid-single-digit real returns over long periods, but any individual decade can be far better or far worse. Try a conservative figure and a higher one and look at the gap — that range is the honest answer.
- Why does a 0.25% fee difference matter so much?
- A fee costs you twice: the amount charged, plus every year of growth that money would have earned had it stayed invested. Over twenty or thirty years the second effect is usually the larger of the two, which is why the calculator separates them.
- Does this include taxes?
- No. Tax treatment depends on your country of residence, your account type and the fund's domicile, so including it would create false precision. Treat the result as a pre-tax illustration.
- What does 'value in today's money' mean?
- It is the projected balance adjusted for your inflation assumption, so you can judge what the amount would actually buy. Nominal figures always look larger; the real figure is the more useful one for planning.
- Is this financial advice?
- No. InvestBeacon does not provide financial advice or personal recommendations. This tool performs arithmetic on the assumptions you enter and nothing more.