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Most investors know compound interest is powerful. Fewer have seen what it looks like in dollar terms across 40 years. At 8% annual return, $10,000 becomes $217,245 — not from clever picking, just from mathematics and time. At 6.5% (after a 1.5% mutual fund fee) it becomes $124,000 instead. That $93,000 gap is entirely fees. This guide covers the full compounding formula, the fee drag math, the starting-early vs starting-late comparison, and links to a free calculator so you can model your own numbers.

Most Portfolio Visualizer tutorials online were written for US investors. That was a problem when I first started using the tool, because the examples, the ETF tickers, the benchmarks, none of it translated cleanly to a Canadian RRSP or TFSA.