Savings Goal Calculator
Enter your goal, timeline, and current savings to see exactly how much you need to put away each month — with compound interest factored in.
Any financial goal becomes achievable once you know the monthly number — and we also show what the goal really costs after inflation.
$465/mo
To save a $20,000 goal in 3 years at 4% return, with $2,000 already saved
6.3%
of that $20,000 goal is funded by investment growth ($1,268), not your deposits
$21,982
what the $20,000 goal really costs in 3 years at the live 3.2% CPI inflation rate
How to make any savings goal feel achievable
Break it down. Pick a timeline. Hit the monthly number consistently.
Break any goal into a monthly number
A $20,000 down payment sounds daunting. But at 4% in a high-yield savings account over 3 years — with $2,000 already saved — it's about $465/month. Stretch the timeline to 5 years and it drops to roughly $265/month. Every goal becomes manageable once it's a monthly number.
Your existing savings do the heavy lifting
If you already have $5,000 saved toward a $20,000 goal, that $5,000 grows on its own at your return rate — reducing the monthly deposit you need to make. The further away your goal, the more your existing savings matter.
Time is the most powerful variable
Extending a 2-year savings plan to 5 years can cut the required monthly contribution by more than half. Starting a year earlier is almost always worth more than chasing a higher interest rate — because time affects both compounding and the number of contributions.
How the Savings Goal Calculator Works
Formula
r = Annual Return Rate / 100 / 12 (monthly rate)
n = Years × 12 (total months)
PV Grown = Current Savings × (1 + r)^n
Monthly Contribution = (Goal − PV Grown) × r / ((1 + r)^n − 1)
Interest Earned = Goal − Current Savings − (Monthly × n)
Inflation-Adjusted Goal = Goal × (1 + i)^years i = live FRED CPIEnter your savings goal
The target amount — down payment, emergency fund, lump sum, or any goal.
Add your current savings
Money already set aside. This reduces your required monthly contribution.
Set your timeline
Years until you need the money. Longer timelines = lower monthly contributions.
Choose an annual return
HYSA: ~4–5% · Conservative portfolio: ~5–6% · Stock market (long-term): ~7–10%.
Read your numbers
The monthly deposit, growth vs deposits split, and the inflation-adjusted goal with the deposit needed to keep pace.
This calculator uses the standard future-value-of-an-annuity formula, which accounts for compound interest on both your existing savings and each monthly contribution as it is made. It's the same calculation used in financial planning software, just made accessible without a spreadsheet.
A key insight: your existing savings reduce the required monthly contribution more than you might expect. In the default scenario — a $20,000 goal in 3 years at 4% with $2,000 already saved — you need $465/month, and growth supplies $1,268 (6.3%) of the goal so you only deposit $16,732 of it yourself.
It also corrects for inflation. If your goal is to buy something, its price rises too — so we restate the target in future dollars using the live FRED CPI rate. At 3.2% inflation a $20,000 goal becomes about $21,982 in 3 years, and keeping pace takes roughly $517/month rather than $465.
Frequently Asked Questions
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