What this calculator does
It projects the value of a regular ETF investment year by year. Each year the fund's price grows at the rate you enter, dividends are paid at the yield you enter, the dividend tax rate you enter is withheld, and what remains is reinvested (a dividend reinvestment plan, or DRIP). The expense ratio is deducted from the balance every year, because that is how fund fees work: you never see a bill, the fund is simply worth a little less. The result shows the final value after 10, 20 and 30 years, the total you contributed, and how much the fees and the dividend tax cost along the way.
How to choose the inputs
The default figures for VOO, QQQ, SCHD and EWY are illustrative examples, not forecasts. Expense ratios are the published annual fees of each fund and change rarely; check the fund provider before relying on them. Price growth and dividend yield are assumptions about the future — nobody knows them. A sensible approach is to run the same comparison with a cautious and an optimistic set of numbers and see whether the conclusion changes. For dividend tax, use the rate that actually applies to you: for example, a non-US investor in a US-listed ETF typically has US withholding tax deducted from dividends, at a rate that depends on the tax treaty with their country.
Why small fees matter over decades
A difference of 0.5 percentage points a year looks tiny, but it compounds. Over 30 years the gap between a 0.03% fund and a 0.59% fund can amount to a noticeable share of the final value, even with identical returns before fees. The "fees paid" line in the table shows that cost in money rather than percent. The same logic applies to dividend tax: income that is taxed every year has less left to compound than growth that is only taxed when you sell.
Limits of the model
Returns are applied as a constant yearly rate, so the result is smooth; real markets go up and down, and the order of good and bad years matters when you add money every month. Currency moves are ignored — if you invest in a fund priced in another currency, your result in your home currency will differ. Capital gains tax on sale is not included. Use the numbers to compare scenarios, not as a promise.
Information only — not investment advice. Headlines and filing titles are machine-translated from Korean; each links to the original Korean source. Updated: