1. How fees siphon off 33% - 50% of your money within 10-15 years

Perhaps the typical 2% management fees charged by mutual funds and financial advisers don't look too damaging at first glance-especially if you believe the managers will deliver on their market beating promises. But because of the Law of Compounding, taxes and fees paid to Wall Street to "beat the market" will compound over time and can easily take 33% of your money within 10 - 15 years.

The 2% you're giving Wall Street can become 20% of lost investment profits when you consider the effect of Law of Compounding. If you factor the taxes you may pay as they churn your account, you can add another 1%, which means you're going to give away 30%. But before you shut down the calculator, consider the sobering fact that when a fund does worse than the market, the loss will be even higher. And don't forget about marketing charges and hefty sales loads on some funds. This kind of wealth erosion is eye opening to a lot of people. With baby boomers now living well into their 80's and 90's, who can afford to put a nest egg in these hands?

Fees Kill Returns Find out how fees affect your returns over time. Enter the data, see the results. Starting amount:  $ Years to invest:  1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738394041424344454647484950 Annual return:  % Management fee:  %

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What The Experts Say John Bogle, Founder of the Vanguard Group Mr. Bogle's 10 books all promote using the central underlying thesis of The System, offer statistical proof of its validity, and are highly critical of the mutual fund and investment management industries. Read what John Bogle has to say