Fund growth from regular contributions, net of a management fee.
Future value (after fees)
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Total contributed
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Net growth
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Real value (today)
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What this projection is really showing you
A Nigerian mutual fund, whether a money market fund, a bond fund, or an equity fund from one of the local asset managers, takes your regular contributions and invests them as a pool. This tool answers a single practical question. If you drip a fixed amount in every month, grow it at a chosen rate, pay an annual management fee, and leave it for a set number of years, what is the pot worth at the end, and what is that worth in today's money once inflation has done its damage. It is built for the steady investor running a monthly contribution, not for someone modelling a single lump sum. Three outputs matter here. The future value after fees, the slice of that which is pure growth on top of what you put in, and the inflation-adjusted real value.
How the fee and inflation are handled
The fee is treated as a straight drag on the return, which is the honest way to model it because a management fee is charged on the fund whether it performs or not. The tool subtracts the annual fee percentage from the gross annual return to get a net return, then compounds your monthly contributions at that net rate using the standard formula for the future value of a monthly stream. So a 20 percent gross return with a 1.5 percent fee becomes an 18.5 percent net return doing the actual compounding. Separately, the real value divides the final pot by inflation compounded over the period. The inflation figure the calculator applies is 23 percent a year, a deliberately high anchor that reflects recent Nigerian headline inflation, and it is the single biggest reason the real number looks so much smaller than the nominal one.
NGN 50,000 a month for ten years
Take the tool's default scenario, using the rates this calculator applies. You contribute NGN 50,000 a month, expect a 20 percent gross return, pay a 1.5 percent annual fee, and stay invested for 10 years. The net return is 18.5 percent. Over 120 months your contributions total NGN 6 million. Compounded at the net rate, the pot grows to about NGN 17,094,091, of which NGN 11,094,091 is growth on top of what you paid in. But strip out 23 percent annual inflation over the decade and the real value, what that pot would buy in today's money, is only about NGN 2,156,726.
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The chart splits the final pot into what you put in versus what growth added, then shows the real, inflation-adjusted value separately.
The fee drag, and a tax point the tool leaves out
The gap between the headline pot and the real value is the lesson here, and it is why fees deserve scrutiny. A fee that looks trivial, say one and a half percent, quietly removes that much from your compounding rate every single year, and over a decade the foregone growth is large. When you compare funds, weigh the fee as heavily as the advertised return, because a cheaper fund with a slightly lower headline can still leave you richer. One thing this calculator does not model is tax. Returns from Nigerian collective investment schemes can attract withholding tax on certain distributions, and the treatment of dividends, interest, and capital gains is among the areas the 2025 reform is reshaping. The figures here are pre-tax. Confirm the current position on fund taxation with the FIRS, now transitioning to the Nigeria Revenue Service, before you treat the projection as net of everything.
Why is the real value so much lower than the pot?
Because the calculator applies 23 percent annual inflation, and at that pace money loses purchasing power fast. Naira in ten years simply buys far less than naira today, so a pot of NGN 17 million in 2036 money is worth only around NGN 2.2 million in 2026 terms. It is not that the fund failed, it is that high inflation erodes the yardstick. The real figure is the honest one to plan around, and it is why beating inflation, not just earning a positive return, is the real goal.
Should I pick a higher return or a lower fee?
Neither in isolation. What compounds your money is the net return, gross minus fee, so a fund advertising 21 percent with a 3 percent fee nets 18 percent, while a steadier fund at 19 percent with a 0.5 percent fee nets 18.5 percent and may carry less risk. Put each fund's own numbers into the tool and compare the net return and the resulting real value, rather than chasing the biggest headline figure.