Set your goal and deadline — see exactly how much to save each month
💡 Why This Matters "Save more" is vague advice. This turns your goal into a concrete monthly number — so you know exactly what to set aside, and whether your deadline is realistic before you commit to it.
Pushing your deadline back by even one year can meaningfully lower your required monthly payment — compounding does more of the work the longer it has to run.
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This calculator works backward from your goal. First, it projects how much your starting balance alone will grow to by your deadline through compound interest. Whatever gap remains between that projection and your target gets spread across the monthly deposits you'll make — and since each deposit also compounds for however long is left, the required monthly amount is smaller than a simple goal-divided-by-months calculation would suggest.
The required monthly savings figure is the exact deposit you'd need to make every month, assuming a consistent interest rate, to land on your goal by your deadline. If that number feels out of reach, the calculator is telling you something useful — either the timeline needs to stretch, the goal needs to shrink, or your starting balance needs a boost.
This assumes a fixed interest rate and perfectly consistent monthly deposits, which real life rarely delivers exactly. Missed months or rate changes will shift your actual timeline. It also doesn't factor in taxes on interest earned, so your real after-tax growth may be slightly lower than what's shown.
If the monthly number feels too high, try the deadline field first — pushing it out even a year or two often drops the required payment more than you'd expect. If you'd rather work from a monthly amount you're already comfortable with and see how long it takes instead, our Savings Goal Calculator solves that version of the problem.
Example: Say your goal is $30,000, you're starting with $2,000, earning 4.5% annual interest, with 5 years until your deadline. The calculator figures out your $2,000 alone won't get you there and works out the monthly deposit needed to close the gap: $409.50/month. Keep that up for 5 years and you'll land right at $30,000.
The calculator first projects how much your starting balance alone will grow to by your deadline. Whatever's left to reach your goal gets divided across the required monthly deposits, accounting for the fact that each deposit also earns interest for however long is left until your deadline.
A savings goal calculator starts from a monthly amount you're already contributing and tells you how long it'll take to hit your target. This calculator works the other way — you set the deadline, and it tells you the monthly amount needed to get there.
Try extending your deadline or increasing your starting balance if possible — both lower the required monthly figure. You can also plug in a lower goal amount to see what's realistically achievable on your current budget.
Yes, using your actual APY gives the most accurate required-contribution figure. If your rate is variable or you're unsure, a conservative estimate is safer than an optimistic one — it's better to slightly oversave than fall short of your deadline.