Savings Calculator

What is the Savings Calculator?

The Savings Calculator is a free, instant tool for anyone saving toward a specific number. Tell it your goal — an emergency fund, a house down payment, a vacation, a new laptop — and it answers one of two questions: how long it will take to get there at your current pace, or how much you need to set aside each month to arrive by a chosen date. It models real monthly compound interest, so the growth you see reflects the way savings accounts and money-market funds actually pay out.

How to use it

1. Pick a mode at the top: solve for the time it takes, or solve for the monthly amount required.
2. Enter your savings goal (the target balance you want to reach).
3. Enter your starting deposit, the amount you already have set aside today.
4. Enter your annual interest rate as a percentage, matching what your account earns.
5. In time mode, enter how much you will save each month. In monthly-amount mode, enter your deadline in months instead.

The answer updates the moment you change a value. There is no Calculate button and nothing to submit, so you can try a few scenarios and close the tab when you have what you need.

The formula and the two solving directions

Each month the running balance grows by one month of interest and then receives your contribution. In symbols, the balance carries forward as balance times one plus the monthly rate, plus your monthly contribution. The monthly rate is simply the annual rate divided by twelve.

balance_next = balance x (1 + r) + contribution

• r = monthly interest rate = annual rate ÷ 12 ÷ 100
• Time mode steps month by month and reports the first month the balance reaches the goal.
• Monthly-amount mode solves the future-value-of-an-annuity identity for the payment: future value equals the starting deposit grown by compounding, plus the contribution times the annuity growth factor.

Setting that future value equal to your goal and rearranging gives the exact monthly amount you need. When the rate is 0%, both modes fall back to simple linear saving with no growth.

Examples

• How long will it take? Goal of $10,000, starting with $1,000, saving $300 a month at a 4% annual rate. The balance reaches the goal in about 28 months, having earned roughly $500 in interest along the way.
• How much per month? Goal of $20,000 in 36 months, starting from $0 at a 4% annual rate. You need to save about $522 a month, and compounding covers the remaining gap.
• Rate matters. The same $20,000-in-36-months goal at 0% needs about $556 a month, so a few points of yield shaves a meaningful amount off your required contribution.

Common use cases

• Planning an emergency fund and seeing the finish line at your current saving rate.
• Working backward from a wedding, move, or tuition deadline to a monthly number you can budget.
• Comparing a high-yield account against a basic one by changing only the rate.
• Checking whether a lump-sum starting deposit meaningfully shortens the timeline.
• Setting a realistic automatic-transfer amount that actually hits the goal on time.

Why use this one

Most savings calculators only answer one direction — either time or contribution — forcing you to hunt for a second tool. This one does both in a single switch, with genuine monthly compound interest on both your deposit and your contributions rather than flat addition. It is instant (results update as you type, no reload) and private: every calculation runs in your browser, so the goal and amounts you type are never uploaded, stored, or shared. No account, no email, no app.

Results are estimates for general informational purposes only and are not financial advice. They use a fixed nominal rate and exclude taxes, account fees, and inflation. Confirm actual rates and terms with your bank.

Frequently asked questions