Savings Goal Planner
Name the amount you need and the date you need it. This works backwards to the monthly saving, the deadline, or the return required — and tells you honestly when the target is out of reach.
Instant answers
Works offline once loaded
Nothing you type is sent anywhere
Solves for any unknown
Deadline aware
Flags impossible targets
What do you want to solve for?
A high-yield savings account, a CD ladder, or an investment average.
Set this if the goal is a real-world purchase whose price will rise.
You need to save
—
Total you will contribute—
Interest doing the work for you—
Head start you already have—
Per week—
Per day—
Goal adjusted for inflation—
Getting there
Hover to read the balance at any month.
What if you saved a little more?
| Monthly saving | Time to goal | Total contributed | Difference |
|---|
The last column is how much sooner you reach the goal compared with your current plan.
Instructions
How to use this calculator
Step by step
- Pick what you want the calculator to work out. The box it solves for turns dashed and read-only — everything else stays yours to edit.
- Enter the goal amount and anything you have already put aside. The head start matters more than people expect, because it compounds for the whole period.
- Set the annual return. For a goal under three years use a savings-account rate; for anything longer you can reasonably assume more, but the shorter the horizon the less risk belongs in the plan.
- If the thing you are saving for will cost more later — a house, a car, a wedding — put an inflation rate in. The calculator raises the target accordingly rather than letting you aim at a price that will not exist.
- Read the milestone tiles to see when you cross a quarter, half and three quarters of the way. They are far more motivating than the final date on its own.
- Use the "what if you saved a little more" table to see what a 10% or 25% increase actually buys you in time. It is usually more than the increase suggests.
Good to know
- Automate the transfer for the day after payday. A goal you have to remember to fund each month is a goal you will miss a few times a year.
- For anything you need within three years, keep it in cash or a CD. A 20% market drop the month before you need the money undoes years of extra return.
- Round the monthly figure up to the next convenient number. The calculator gives you the minimum; saving the minimum leaves no room for a bad month.
- If the required monthly amount looks impossible, extend the deadline before you raise the assumed return. Time is under your control in a way that markets are not.
- A high-yield savings account currently pays several times what a standard account does for identical risk. Switching is the single easiest change on this page.
- Keep goal money in a separate account from spending money. Money that is visible in your current account gets spent, regardless of what it was earmarked for.
The maths behind it
- Future value FV = P(1 + i)ⁿ + PMT · ((1 + i)ⁿ − 1) / i P starting balance, PMT monthly deposit, i monthly rate, n months.
- Required deposit PMT = (FV − P(1 + i)ⁿ) · i / ((1 + i)ⁿ − 1) The future-value formula rearranged for the payment.
- Time to goal n = ln((PMT + FV·i) / (PMT + P·i)) / ln(1 + i) Solved for n; returns "never" when the argument is non-positive.
- Required return solved numerically Bisection on the future-value function, which is monotonic in the rate.
- Inflation-adjusted goal target = goal × (1 + f)^t What the same purchase will cost at the deadline.
- Monthly rate i = annual rate ÷ 12 The standard nominal convention banks and lenders use.
Why does it say "never"?
Two situations produce it. Either you are saving nothing and earning nothing, so the balance does not move; or you have turned inflation on and the target is rising faster than the balance is. The fix in both cases is more saved each month, a longer horizon, or a smaller goal.
Should I include inflation?
If you are saving for a specific purchase — a car, a deposit, a trip — yes, because the price will have moved by the time you get there. If you are saving to a round number for its own sake, such as a six-month emergency fund measured in today's expenses, leaving it at zero is reasonable.
What return should I assume for a savings goal?
Match the risk to the horizon. Under a year: whatever a high-yield savings account pays. One to three years: CDs or short treasuries. Five years or more: you can justify a mixed portfolio and a higher assumed return, but the number you enter should be one you would be content to be wrong about by a few points.
Is it better to increase the monthly amount or start earlier?
Earlier, almost always. Each extra month adds a deposit and gives every previous deposit another month of compounding. The "what if" table on this page understates the effect of starting sooner for exactly that reason — it holds the start date fixed.
The required return came out at 18% — is that realistic?
No. Nothing reliably returns 18% a year, and anything advertising it is selling risk or a fraud. When the required return comes out that high, the plan needs changing rather than the investment: extend the deadline, raise the monthly amount, or lower the goal.
Does this handle irregular saving?
It models a level monthly amount. If you save irregularly, use your realistic annual total divided by twelve — that gives an honest average. For a lump sum arriving later, such as a bonus, add it to the "already saved" box and note that the timing will flatter the result slightly.
Are the deposits assumed at the start or end of the month?
The end of each month, which is the conservative convention and matches how most automatic transfers actually land. Depositing at the start of the month earns one extra month of interest on every deposit — a small effect over a few years, a meaningful one over decades.