Savings goal calculator
Set a target and see the monthly number you need to hit it, or find out how long your current savings pace will take.
Your goal
Fill in one of these two
Enter a timeline to see the monthly amount you'd need, or enter a monthly amount to see how long it'll take. You can fill in both to compare.
I have a deadline
I have a monthly amount
Your savings plan
Two ways to think about any savings goal
Every savings goal has two knobs: how much you save per month, and how long you give yourself. Fix one, and the other falls out of the math. This calculator lets you approach it either way — set a deadline and find the required monthly amount, or set a monthly amount and find out how long it’ll take.
Interest matters more than people expect once you’re looking more than a year out. On a 2-year goal, a 4% APY on savings that are already sitting there meaningfully reduces how much new money you need to add each month, compared to assuming zero growth.
How to use this calculator well
Use your real savings account APY, not a rough guess — a quick search of your bank’s current savings rate takes thirty seconds and changes the answer more than people expect.
Common mistakes
- Ignoring interest entirely on multi-year goals, which overstates how much you need to contribute.
- Setting an unrealistic monthly number just to hit an arbitrary deadline, then abandoning the plan a few months in.
- Forgetting to update the calculation as your current savings balance grows — rerun it every few months to stay accurate.
FAQ
What if I can’t hit the deadline I want? Either extend the timeline or increase the monthly contribution — there’s no third option, since the math is fixed. Sometimes the honest answer is that the goal needs to move.
Should this money be in the same account as my emergency fund? Generally no — keep goals separate so you can track and protect each one independently, even if they’re in similar types of accounts.