Investing - Theory, News & General • Re: What is included/not included in returns

So, this link is a great example of what is confusing me.

If you take the graph in it for the section "The effect of high costs"
In that example the fees are outside of the 8% growth of the fund. But most of my searching is showing that fees are INCLUDED in the growth of the fund. So that 8% is 'after' accounting for .2% or 2% annual fees. So they'd both just be an 8% growth line, but it's also including class A initial purchase fees, which aren't included.

Which goes back to my initial question, what is already included in growth vs what isn't.
A share initial costs -> not included, they're a 1 time fee at initial investment
annual fees -> Are they included or not?
Dividends -> are they included or not?
Broker/agent fees -> not included, because your agent/planner is managing on TOP of everything else and then pulling that money out.

I'm not talking about the theory behind what funds may/may not do better, managed vs unmanaged, any of that. Just the hard facts of 'included/not-included' and how to understand that at a quick look.

Expense ratios (fees) are already deducted from the total returns posted on yahoo. Total returns are reinvested dividends plus changes in price minus ERs/management fees.

But you asked about a “basic index fund.” And that means reinvested dividends and price changes are identical for funds that track the same index. So higher fees means you get to keep less. So that’s why investors care about fees.

Thank you, this is the best answer for my specific needs so far.

Statistics: Posted by squegeeboo — Fri Sep 11, 2026 11:34 am