FREE CALCULATOR · MONEY
Turn any savings goal into a monthly plan — find the deposit you need for a target date, or the date you'll reach with a fixed deposit.
Pick a mode, enter your goal, and watch the growth chart draw your path to it.
A savings goal is a finish line with a date attached. The calculator works backward from that finish line: given the goal, what you already have, the interest rate, and the time available, it finds the monthly deposit that lands you exactly on target. The dashed line on the chart is your total deposits — the gap between it and the balance line is the interest your money earned for you.
In plain terms: your existing savings grow on their own for n months, and the monthly deposits must cover whatever is left. Because each deposit also earns interest, the required deposit is always a little less than simply dividing the goal by the months. Flip the question around — "I can save $300 a month, when do I arrive?" — and the same equation solves for n instead, which the calculator rounds up to a whole month and converts to a calendar date.
You want a $6,000 vacation fund in 18 months, you have $500 saved, and your account pays 4% APY. Plain division says $6,000 ÷ 18 = $333.33 a month — but that ignores both your head start and the interest. The formula gives $295.32 a month: your $500 grows on its own, and every deposit earns interest too. Over the 18 months you deposit $5,815.81 in total and earn $184.19 in interest.
Want the full method with the step-by-step arithmetic? See our guide: How much should I save each month?
The calculator uses the future-value-of-an-annuity formula: it grows your existing savings forward at the monthly rate, subtracts that from the goal, and spreads the remainder across monthly deposits that each earn interest too. That is why the answer is always a bit lower than goal ÷ months.
Use APY — the annual percentage yield. APY already includes the effect of compounding, so it reflects what a savings account really pays over a year. APR is the convention for loans; for savings, APY is the honest number.
Yes, twice over: it directly reduces what you still need, and it keeps earning interest the whole time. On the worked example above, the $500 head start plus its interest shaves about $38 a month off the required deposit.
You have three levers: give yourself more months, lower the goal, or raise the deposit by trimming spending or adding income. Try each lever in the calculator — small changes to the timeline move the monthly number a lot.
Money saved earlier earns interest longer, so a lump sum today beats the same total spread over months. But most people can't produce lump sums on demand — steady monthly deposits you actually make beat a perfect plan you abandon.
No — the answer is in nominal dollars. Inflation means the goal's purchasing power will be a little lower when you arrive, and interest may be taxable depending on the account. Treat the result as the account balance, not spending power.
They are the same equation solved for different unknowns. "Monthly needed" fixes the date and solves for the deposit; "When will I reach it" fixes the deposit and solves for the date. Switch modes to check your plan from both directions.