Fees as a percentage of returns become more noticeable the lower the returns

Expressed as a reduction on yield. Which means that if you earn 10% and you total costs are 2,5% you actually earn 7,5%.
This is the actual return which compounds over the duration of your investment.

There are generally three components of costs.

Breakdown:
Administrator – 0,5%
Financial advisor – 0,5%
Fund manager – 1,5% plus
VAT – 14%

You can save on advisor fees by going direct

Downside
Choosing the wrong investments can cost your more than the fees that you save

or

on fund manager fees by buying the index/average through an exchange traded fund
Downside
Performance will always be average

The impact of fees on future values:

R100 pm over 10 years
@ 10% = R20 484
@ 9.5% = R19 908 ———— 2,89%
@ 8% = R18 294 ———— 11,97%

R100 pm over 20 years
@ 10% = R75 936
@ 9.5% = R71 192 ———— 6,66%
@ 8% = R58 902 ———— 28,91%

Fees have a greater impact on the value of your investment the longer you are invested.

You need to decide on the value propositions relative to the price you pay.