Two ways to plan the same goal
Say you want $20,000 in the bank. You’ve already got $3,000 and you can throw $400 a month at it. How long before you hit twenty grand? That’s the first mode. Flip it around: you need that same $20,000 by a specific date, like a wedding in two years. Now the question is how much per month gets you there. That’s the second mode.
Most calculators only do one of those. This one does both, and it folds in interest so the numbers actually match what your high-yield savings account or money market fund will do.
How to use it
Pick a mode at the top. How long will it take? asks for your goal, current savings, monthly contribution, and interest rate, then tells you the time to reach the target down to the month. How much per month? swaps the contribution field for a timeframe in months and solves for the deposit you’d need instead.
Defaults load right away so you see a working example before touching anything. Hit Sample to cycle through a few realistic setups, like a $50K down payment over five years or a no-interest vacation fund. Everything recalculates as you type.
The result card breaks down three things: total you’ll contribute out of pocket, interest the account earns, and your final balance. In timeline mode you also get a year-by-year table so you can watch the balance climb.
A few things worth knowing
Interest is compounded monthly here, and contributions are added at the end of each month. That’s the standard convention for savings accounts and it keeps the math honest. If you set the rate to 0%, the tool just does plain addition, which is fine for a checking-account stash that earns nothing.
Set a goal you’ve already passed? The tool catches that and tells you you’re done rather than spitting out a negative number. Put $0 in for both contribution and rate, and it’ll warn you that the balance never grows, because, well, it doesn’t.
One honest caveat: real life is messier than a spreadsheet. Rates change, you skip a month, you get a bonus and dump it in early. Treat the output as a solid plan, not a promise. The timeline assumes you actually make every deposit on schedule.
Here’s where compounding earns its keep. On a $50,000 goal over five years at 5%, the interest alone covers a meaningful chunk of the total, so your required monthly deposit drops compared to stuffing cash under a mattress. Bump the rate and watch that monthly number shrink.
Questions people ask
Does this account for taxes on interest? Nope. It shows gross interest. If your savings sit in a taxable account, your real return will be a bit lower after tax. Tax-advantaged accounts like a Roth IRA aren’t affected.
What interest rate should I plug in? Use whatever your account actually pays. High-yield savings runs around 4 to 5% lately, a basic savings account closer to 0.5%, and a brokerage money market somewhere in between. For a stock-based goal, people often use 6 to 7%, though that’s far from guaranteed.
Can I model an irregular schedule? Not directly. It assumes a steady monthly amount. If you save in lumps, run a rough average and treat the timeline as an estimate.
Why does the time come out in years and months? Because “47 months” is harder to picture than “3 years, 11 months.” Both are shown so you can use whichever reads better.
Is my data sent anywhere? No. Every calculation runs in your browser. Nothing you type leaves your device, and there’s no account to make.