Finance & money · Interest Savings
Savings Goal Calculator
Find out how many months it takes to reach your savings target. Enter your current savings, monthly contribution, and interest rate to get your timeline. Free savings calculator.
How it works
Calculates how many months it will take to reach a savings goal given your current balance, monthly contribution, and annual interest rate. Uses the future value annuity formula solved for the number of periods.
Formula
n = log((Goal·r + PMT) / (PV·r + PMT)) / log(1 + r)
- Goal
- Target savings amount
- PV
- Current savings (present value)
- PMT
- Monthly contribution
- r
- Monthly interest rate (annual rate ÷ 12 ÷ 100)
- n
- Number of months to reach the goal
Step by step
- 1Subtract current savings from the goal to find the remaining amount needed.
- 2Convert the annual rate to a monthly rate.
- 3Use the solved annuity formula to find the number of months needed.
- 4Multiply months by the monthly contribution and add current savings for total contributions.
Examples
$10k goal, $2k saved, $400/month, 4%
Starting with $2,000 and contributing $400/month at 4% interest, you'd reach $10,000 in about 19 months.
Inputs
- goal:
- 10000
- current_savings:
- 2000
- monthly_contribution:
- 400
- annual_rate:
- 4
Result
- months_to_goal:
- 19 months (1 year 7 months)
Frequently asked questions
What interest rate should I use?▾
Use the annual percentage yield (APY) from your savings account. High-yield savings accounts in 2024 often offer 4–5% APY. A standard savings account may offer 0.01–0.5%.
Does this account for taxes on interest?▾
No. Interest earned in a regular savings account is taxable income. For a more accurate projection, reduce the interest rate by your marginal tax rate (e.g. 4% × (1 − 0.22) ≈ 3.1% after-tax).