Savings Goal Calculator

How to use this savings goal calculator

Choose what you want to find:

• Monthly amount answers "how much do I need to save each month?" Enter your goal, what you have already saved and how long you have.
• Time needed answers "how long will it take to save this?" Enter your goal, what you have now and how much you can save each month.

Then add the interest rate your savings earn. For a high-yield savings account, use the advertised APY and choose Annually compounding so the yield is not counted twice. For cash at home or a current account, use 0%.

Worked examples

1. An emergency fund in two years

You want $10,000 set aside within 2 years, have $1,000 so far, and keep it in a savings account paying 4%. You need to save $357.49 a month. Interest contributes $420.22 of the total.

2. A house deposit in five years

Starting with $5,000 and aiming for $50,000 in 5 years at 4.5%, the monthly amount is $651.44. Without any interest you would need $750.00 a month, so the interest saves you $98.56 every month.

3. How long to save $10,000 at $300 a month

Putting away $300 at the end of each month in an account paying 4%, you reach $10,000 after 2 years and 8 months, with $512.94 of that coming from interest.

4. Saving a little more each month

Toward a $30,000 goal at 4%, saving $500 a month takes 4 years and 7 months. Raising it to $750 cuts that to 3 years and 2 months, which is 1 year and 5 months sooner.

Monthly savings table

How much to save each month, starting from zero, to reach common goals at 4% interest compounded monthly (rounded up to the next dollar):

Short timelines are mostly about how much you put in. Over 10 years, interest does a noticeable share of the work.

How the monthly amount is calculated

The yearly rate is converted to an effective monthly rate i for the compounding you choose, exactly as in our compound interest calculator. Your current savings P grow on their own to P(1 + i)^N over N months. The monthly deposit D covers the rest of the goal G:

D = [G − P(1 + i)^N] × i / [(1 + i)^N − 1]

For deposits at the start of the month the result is divided by (1 + i), because each deposit earns one more month of interest. With a 0% rate it is simply (G − P) / N. If your current savings already grow past the goal, the amount needed is zero.

In Time needed mode, the calculator adds your deposit and interest month by month and reports the first month in which the balance reaches the goal, up to 100 years.

Results assume a fixed interest rate, deposits on time every month, and no tax or fees. They are checked against the spreadsheet formulas below in our automated tests.

Savings goal formulas in Excel and Google Sheets

Monthly amount (monthly compounding, deposits at month end; use 1 instead of the last 0 for the start of the month):

=-PMT(rate/12, months, -current_savings, goal, 0)

For example 2, =-PMT(4.5%/12, 60, -5000, 50000, 0) returns $651.44.

Months needed:

=NPER(rate/12, -monthly_deposit, -current_savings, goal, 0)

For example 3, =NPER(4%/12, -300, 0, 10000, 0) returns about 31.7; round up to 32 whole months.

Ways to reach a goal sooner

• Save on payday. An automatic transfer the day you are paid makes saving the default, and start-of-month deposits earn slightly more.
• Earn interest on it. Money for a goal a few years away can often sit in a high-yield savings account or a fixed-term deposit instead of a current account.
• Add windfalls. Putting part of a bonus, tax refund or gift toward the goal can take months off the timeline. Add it to Current savings to see the effect.
• Review once a year. If your income or the interest rate changes, rerun the numbers and adjust the monthly amount.

These are general ideas, not personal advice. See our financial disclaimer.