Savings goal calculator
Enter your goal and your time, get how much to save each month.
How much do I need to save each month?
To reach $20,000 in 5 years at 4% compounded monthly, starting from nothing, you need $301.66 a month. Without any interest it would be $333.33.
How does money I already have help?
It grows on its own for the whole period, so less has to come from monthly savings. Enter it under "Saved so far".
What rate should I use?
The rate your savings actually earn — the APY of a savings account or CD, or 0% for cash. Investments do not have a fixed rate.
How is it calculated?
The goal minus what your current savings grow to, divided by the future value of $1 a month: (goal − current × (1 + i)ⁿ) × i ÷ ((1 + i)ⁿ − 1), with i the monthly rate.
What if my savings already reach the goal?
Then you need to save nothing more — the calculator shows $0 and what the savings will grow to.
How much does a longer timeline lower the monthly amount?
For a $15,000 goal with $2,000 already saved and 4.5% interest, saving over 3 years takes $330.46 a month and over 5 years $186.11 a month. A longer timeline lowers the monthly payment, but you make more payments in total.
Is my savings account money insured?
Deposits at FDIC-insured banks are insured up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category. This is a protection against bank failure; it does not change the interest rate your savings earn.
The arithmetic
The calculator grows your current savings at the monthly rate for the whole period, subtracts that from the goal, and finds the level monthly deposit that makes up the rest. Deposits are made at the end of each month and the interest compounds monthly, at one twelfth of the annual rate. With i as the monthly rate and n as the number of months, the deposit is (goal − current × (1 + i)ⁿ) × i ÷ ((1 + i)ⁿ − 1). At a rate of zero the formula reduces to simple division: the shortfall divided by the number of months.
A worked example
You want $15,000 in 3 years and already have $2,000, in an account paying 4.5%. The monthly rate is 0.375%, and over 36 months the $2,000 grows to $2,288.50. The remaining $12,711.50 requires a deposit of $330.46 a month. At 0% interest the same plan needs $361.11 a month, so interest takes about $30.65 a month off the load. If you already had $20,000, the savings would pass the goal on their own and the monthly amount is $0.
Common mistakes
Using a rate you hope to earn rather than the rate your account pays overstates the result; for a short goal, use a savings account or CD rate and not a stock-market return. Another is forgetting that the rate is annual and compounds monthly here: an account that quotes APY has a slightly different nominal rate. A third is leaving out inflation for a goal that is several years away, because the amount you need may rise. And a goal date is not a promise: if an account’s rate changes, recalculate.
Sources: the future value of an ordinary annuity, as in OpenStax Principles of Finance (time value of money); FDIC deposit insurance limits from the FDIC (fdic.gov). Related: compound interest calculator, future value calculator, APY calculator and CD calculator.
Estimates for planning only — not financial, tax or legal advice. Your lender's or employer's figures decide. How we check our calculators.