As a broad-brush, the annual average of all charges inclusive, will be around 150 basis points by the 15th year, and under 100 basis points by the 20th year.

Plus they keep all the dividends. And that little thing right there means that you only have HALF the money you should have on the 25th year.

Plus they play games with the caps. Sure, they generally lay it all out, but people don't know what it means. Most people don't realize how often they'll get capped, or how badly they'll get clipped by the cap. According to [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%26P_500 ] the S&P had an annual return of more than 16% in 10 of the last 24 years. 7 years had more than 25%.

Oh yeah, don't play 3-card monte with a street artist.