A recent study by 1 Finance Research indicates that over 80% of equity mutual fund schemes, when held for 10 years, result in investors in regular plans having at least 25% less wealth compared to those in direct plans. This wealth erosion, driven by embedded distributor commissions within the regular plan's expense ratio, compounds significantly over time. In nearly 20% of schemes, the wealth gap exceeds 50%, solely due to these higher costs, not market performance. The study analyzed AMFI NAV data, assuming identical investments and start dates to isolate the cost factor.