All Data Entry cells show up in red. We built this calculator to illustrate for you the effect of rates of return, front-end sales charges and annual expense ratios on fund performance. Most financial magazines that report on mutual fund historical performance will tell you if the fund has a front-end load and what the annual Expense ratio is for each fund. The expense ratio is a percentage of the fund that the Fund Company extracts to cover its expenses for operating the fund.
Most companies assess and extract the expense ratio on a daily basis.
For our purposes, this calculator extracts the annual expense ratio amount as a lump sum at year-end. This is slightly different than reality, but both funds will be treated the same, providing a level playing field for this comparison. Enter here the percentage of the front-end sales load each fund charges. This information should be accessible from a financial publication that tracks mutual fund performance. This determines the test period for all calculations.