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Glossary entry · The silent subtractors
Fee
Definition
Any charge taken from your investment, expressed annually as a percentage. Often quoted in basis points (100 bps = 1%). Compounded over decades, even small fees can quietly destroy a huge share of returns.
Example
A 1% annual fee on a 40-year investment can cost you 25-30% of your final balance.
From the lessons
Lesson · 06
Fee
This term appears in a longer lesson, where the idea gets the proper treatment with examples and a working visualization.
Read the lesson →Related
The silent subtractors
Tax
The other silent subtractor. Almost every gain you make is taxed somewhere.
Read →Expense ratio
The annual fee a fund charges, expressed as a percentage of your investment.
Read →Commission
A fee charged by a broker each time you buy or sell. Mostly $0 with modern brokers.
Read →Tax-advantaged account
An investment account where the government reduces or defers your taxes.
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