Disclaimer: Cost Comparison for Passive Investing with Various Providers

Introduction

In this disclaimer, we explain how we conducted the cost comparison for passive investing with various providers, which is displayed on our website. Our guiding principle is to always compare with a product that matches ours as closely as possible. If an “identical” product is not available, we always choose an alternative product from the respective provider that is as close as possible to our product, as explained below.

Although the cost comparison has been compiled with the utmost care and every effort has been made to present the information as accurately as possible, no rights can be derived from the results. The outcomes are indicative and intended solely for general informational purposes. Liability for direct or indirect damage resulting from the use of this comparison or decisions made based on it is excluded. For important (financial) decisions, it is strongly recommended to seek additional professional advice.

The specific terms of the compared products may differ. The exact outcome of the comparison depends on the provider’s terms and the product being compared, any additional services from the provider, and the investor’s personal situation.

Types of Providers

• Wealth Managers: they choose what is invested on your behalf. You have no or limited choices to make regarding the composition of your portfolio.
• Brokers: with these, you compose your investment portfolio yourself by choosing individual stocks, ETFs, packages, or investment plans. Some brokers offer the option to invest automatically monthly, others do not. With some brokers, you can only invest in whole shares, while with others, you can also invest in fractional shares.
  More and more brokers also offer investment plans. They help you compose a portfolio. This resembles wealth management, but there is an important difference: the composition of the portfolio is usually not automatically adjusted to market changes (for example, if emerging markets start playing a larger role). However, there are also providers who do automatically rebalance.
• Banks: most banks offer both brokerage services and wealth management.

The above types of providers are included in the comparison. Only “execution only” brokers are included that help customers easily assemble a portfolio and invest automatically on a monthly basis, making them similar to an asset manager in that regard.

How the Products Were Selected

• Comparison: only the costs (and the resulting net return) are included in the comparison. Differences in additional services, such as advice (if no product without advice is available), are not included. The cheapest option from the selected provider has been chosen, including any underlying fund costs.
• Strategy: for each provider, an attempt has been made to choose a product that passively invests in the global stock market. This means that as little contact as possible is required regarding the investment strategy.
• Sustainability: if an SFDR (Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation) Article 8 option is available, it is preferred. If not, the non-sustainable alternative (Article 6) has been chosen. UpToMore complies with Article 8.
• Stocks: the preference is for full investment in stocks, as UpToMore also invests fully in stocks, allowing for the best comparison. Full investment in stocks is generally considered the most profitable long-term option, as it is the most aggressive strategy in terms of risk. If investing in funds such as ETF “s, ETF” s that invest fully in stocks have been chosen where possible.
• Free choice of ETFs: if you can choose which ETFs to invest in, it is assumed that you invest in exactly the same ETFs as UpToMore currently invests in, with the same underlying fund costs.
• Private banking: for private banking, the most cost-efficient advisory product has been chosen, suitable for long-term investing with minimal periodic adjustments.
• Switching: with some providers, it may be beneficial, once your invested capital exceeds a certain threshold, to switch to another product from the same provider — for example, one with fixed costs and a lower percentage on your investment. Such a switch is not included in the calculation, as it is unrealistic for clients to continuously monitor this themselves and precisely calculate when switching is most advantageous. Only if a provider automatically transfers clients and this is publicly known, has it been included in the calculation. We have selected the cheapest product, assuming that clients do not change products during the period covered by the calculation.

Below is an overview of these features per provider/product:

About the Calculations

• Expected Return
  • Because actual returns ultimately influence costs, an expected return has been taken into account in the calculations.
  • All products follow approximately the same investment strategy, and therefore we expect them to generate the same gross return (before deduction of costs).
  • The “dividend leakage”, the impact of dividend tax on dividends received by the underlying funds or by the fund itself, is not taken into consideration. This is because dividend leakage has a complex, indirect impact on returns for which no reliable and standardized data is publicly available. Since this effect is therefore not listed as an explicit “cost item” in the Key Information Document (KID), an objective comparison between funds in this area is impossible for an investor.
  • The average return of the global stock market between December 31, 1987, and June 30, 2025, was 8.71% according to the MSCI World Index in USD. This figure is therefore used.
• In the calculations, we assume that net dividends are automatically reinvested.
• Virtually no provider gives full transparency on how their systems precisely calculate costs. This usually happens daily or monthly.
• For the outstanding amount, we take the monthly or quarterly average, unless the provider has indicated otherwise.
• We divide the annual cost percentage (if applicable) by 12 to calculate the monthly percentage. This is the most common method in the financial sector, unless the provider indicates otherwise.
• To keep file size and calculation time manageable, we calculate on a monthly basis instead of daily. This may cause the calculation to deviate very slightly from reality.
• When a provider specifies a cost range (e.g., for underlying fund costs), we use the highest value from that range.
• The “underlying fund costs” have been taken into account. These are the indirect costs of providers, such as the managers of an ETF or fund. Sometimes, this is the same provider.
• Spread or swing costs are not included, as they are usually variable and negligible.
• Currency costs (FX costs) have been disregarded. We assume that you buy the same Euro ETFs from a broker as UpToMore.
• For banks, any costs for maintaining a checking account are not included.

Questions

If you have questions or feedback about the calculation, or want more information about the comparison made, you can contact marketing@uptomore.com