Savings Goal Calculator

The form always shows both the deposit field and the date field, but only the one that matches your question is used.

1. Set I want to know to either How long it takes to reach my goal, or How much to save each month.
2. Enter your Savings goal and your Current savings. Use 0 if you are starting from nothing.
3. For the first question, fill in Monthly deposit (for "how long"). For the second, fill in Months until my date (for "how much").
4. Type the Annual interest rate (%) your savings earn. Use 0 for cash that earns nothing.
5. Change the Currency symbol if needed.

The how-long answer appears as years and months, with Goal, Target date, Total deposited, Interest earned and Final balance beneath it. The how-much answer shows the monthly figure with Total deposits, Interest earned and the target date. If your current savings already meet the goal, the tool says so, and if interest alone would reach it, it reports that no deposits are needed.

The monthly rate is i = annual rate / 12 / 100. To find the deposit for a fixed number of months n, the tool uses PMT = (FV - PV × (1 + i)^n) × i / ((1 + i)^n - 1), where FV is the goal and PV your current savings. The term PV × (1 + i)^n is what the money you already have grows to alone, so deposits only cover the gap. At a zero rate it reduces to (FV - PV) / n, so 12,000 over 24 months needs 500.00 a month.

Example one, the how-much question: a goal of 10,000, current savings of 2,000, 36 months and 4%. The deposit is 202.86 a month, total deposits are about 7,302.91 and interest adds the remaining 697.09.

Example two, the how-long question: the starting values are a goal of 20,000, savings of 2,000, 300 a month and 4%. The tool steps month by month until the balance passes the goal, which takes 54 months, or 4 years 6 months. Total deposited is 18,200 (the 2,000 you already had plus 54 deposits of 300), interest earned is 1,970.09 and the final balance is 20,170.09.

One detail to know: the how-long mode adds each deposit before that month's interest, while the how-much formula assumes the deposit arrives at the end of the month. The two modes are therefore close but not exact mirrors. Entering 202.86 in the how-long mode for the first example reaches 10,000 in 36 months, finishing at 10,025.87.

Use the two questions as a pair. If the time looks too long, raise the monthly deposit a little and check again. If the monthly figure is too high, move the date, start with more, or look for a better rate. Interest earned shows how much of the goal comes from growth rather than your own money, and over a short period it is usually small, so the plan depends mainly on the amount you set aside.

Counting the months to a date is easier with the date difference calculator. To see how a balance grows with no fixed target, try the compound interest calculator. If you also owe money on a card, the credit card payoff calculator shows what clearing that debt first would save, since card interest usually exceeds savings interest. The percentage calculator can turn a goal into a share of income.

Limits: one fixed rate, monthly compounding, equal deposits, no withdrawals, and no tax on interest. Rounding the suggested deposit up gives a small margin. The result is an estimate for general information and not financial advice.

A few warnings from the tool are worth knowing. If you set no monthly deposit and a zero rate, the balance can never grow, so it asks for a deposit. If the plan would take more than 100 years, it says so rather than showing an absurd date. Whole months are used throughout, so a date that falls part-way through a month is rounded to the nearest month.