What Does My T-REX Score Mean?

Determine Your T-REX Score

Your T-REX Score reveals how efficiently your investments convert total returns into returns for you!

The T-REX Calculator allows you to determine T-REX Scores for an endless range of scenarios. So start with any scenario you wish. Make adjustments. See how your T-REX Score changes. You may be very surprised!

Investment Amount:
Enter the amount of your existing or contemplated investment.

Time Horizon:
Enter your estimated investment Time Horizon.

Example 1: A 45 year old anticipating a long life may enter a Time Horizon of 30 or 40 years.

Example 2: A 30 year old looking to project the value of an investment at age 65 may enter a Time Horizon of 35 years.

Example 3: A 60 year old projecting the value of an investment at age 80 may enter a Time Horizon of 20 years.

Estimated Rate of Return:
Enter an average annual return on investment before fees.

Not sure what your future investment return will be? That’s ok. No one knows. Not the experts. No one. Here are some suggested starting points:

• Financial Planning Standards Council’s (“FPSC”) recommends using 6.4% as the current rate of return planning guideline for Canadian stocks. (While exhibiting lots of volatility along the way, stock indexes have produced average annual returns of 6-9% over long periods of time.)
• Current yields on most bond/fixed income funds are in the 2-3% range
• “Balanced” funds comprising a mix of stocks and bonds will provide a return somewhere between stock and bond returns.

Note: To estimate actual T-REX Scores based on reported historical fund performance over a given period, remember to input the total annual return of the fund before fees in the T-REX Calculator. For example, to determine the historical T-REX Score of a fund with a 2% Management Expense Ratio (MER) which produced an annual compounded return to investors of 5%, after fees, over 10 years, input the following in the calculator: Annual Return(%): 7, Annual Fees(%): 2, Time (years): 10. This produces a T-REX Score of 65%.

Annual Fees:
Enter the total of annual fees deducted by your investment providers including your broker, investment advisor and fund managers as well as any fees paid directly by you. (The challenge here is getting a full picture of fees. Millions of investors are unaware that fees are charged by their investment providers. Most of those that know fees are charged are unaware of the full extent of fees they are paying.)

Magic
As you experiment with different scenarios, you will see that combinations of longer Time Horizons and higher Rates of Return can produce astonishing Total Gains. This is the power of compounding.

Tragic
Expressed as an annual percentage of your investment balance, Fees may appear modest, but the impact of Fees increases significantly over time.

(After Fees, you may still be left with lots of magic. But remember, you also need to beat taxes and inflation to produce real investment gains!)

Your Most Likely Scenario
Once you are satisfied that you have a good sense of how the T-REX Calculator works and how your T-REX Score varies under different amount, time, rate and fee scenarios, input the scenario that you feel best represents your circumstances. You may wish to apply a rate of return similar to those suggested. Or you may be more conservative or more optimistic. It’s totally up to you.

Now you know your T-REX Score!