🏦 Savings Calculator
Saving works best when you can see where steady habits lead. This calculator takes your starting deposit, what you add each month, the annual interest rate and how often interest compounds, then projects the balance year by year into a single future value.
The maths converts your nominal annual rate into an effective monthly rate based on the compounding frequency you pick, so monthly and quarterly compounding are compared on a fair basis. Contributions are assumed to land at the end of each month.
How to use this calculator
Enter your starting deposit, monthly contribution, annual rate, time horizon and compounding frequency to project the future value of your savings.
- Type the Initial deposit you are starting with (use 0 if starting from scratch).
- Enter the Monthly contribution you can keep up every month.
- Set the Annual interest rate and the Years to grow, then pick the Compounding frequency.
- Press Calculate to see the future value split into contributions and interest earned.
Frequently asked questions
What does the savings calculator show?
It shows the projected future value of your savings, broken into the initial deposit, the total of your monthly contributions, all contributions combined, and the interest earned on top.
How does compounding frequency change the result?
The nominal annual rate is converted to an effective monthly rate based on how often interest compounds. Monthly compounding grows slightly faster than quarterly or annual compounding at the same nominal rate.
Can you give a worked example?
With a $1,000 initial deposit, $100 added monthly, a 5% rate compounded monthly for 10 years, the future value is about $17,175. Total contributions are $13,000, so interest earned is roughly $4,175.
Are the contributions assumed at the start or end of the month?
At the end of each month (an ordinary annuity). Contributions made at the very start of each month would earn a touch more interest.