What it takes each month to get there
What it takes each month to get there
Enter your target amount, what you have already put aside, how long you have, and the interest rate your savings account pays. The calculator returns the monthly contribution required, how much of the goal comes from your own deposits, and how much the interest contributes.
The interest portion is the part people usually underestimate. At a realistic high-yield savings rate, interest can cover a meaningful slice of a multi-year goal — money you did not have to earn.
This is a future-value-of-an-annuity problem solved backwards. The required monthly deposit is:
PMT = (FV − PV(1+r)n) × r ÷ [ (1+r)n − 1 ]
Where FV is your goal, PV is what you already have, r is the monthly rate, and n is the number of months. The first term accounts for the fact that your existing savings keep growing on their own, reducing what you need to add.
Worked example: a $20,000 goal in 3 years with $2,000 saved at 4% needs roughly $470 a month. You contribute about $16,900 of your own money; interest supplies the remaining $1,100.
If the required monthly figure looks impossible, there are four honest levers — and only four:
The right account depends almost entirely on the timeline, because volatility is only tolerable when you have time to recover from it.
Under 2 years: a high-yield savings account or short-term CD. Capital preservation matters more than return — you cannot afford a bad month right before you need the money.
2 to 5 years: high-yield savings, CDs, or short-term Treasury instruments. Some people add a small conservative investment allocation, accepting modest risk for a better expected return.
Over 5 years: investing becomes reasonable for goals that are flexible in timing. For fixed deadlines — a house deposit on a known date — staying in cash equivalents remains the safer choice regardless of horizon.
The most reliable predictor of whether a savings goal is met is not the interest rate or the exact monthly figure. It is whether the transfer happens automatically. A standing order timed for the day after payday removes the monthly decision entirely, and money that never lands in your current account is far harder to spend.
It also helps to keep goal savings in a separate, named account. The friction of moving money back is small but real, and the label does genuine psychological work.
It depends on your goal and timeline rather than a universal figure. Enter both above to get the specific number. As a general baseline, many people aim to save 15-20% of gross income across all goals combined.
For goals under two years, a high-yield savings account or CD is usually right. The priority is that the money is intact and available when you need it, which rules out anything that can fall in value.
Build a small emergency buffer first, then prioritise high-interest debt above 7-8%, since paying it is a guaranteed return at that rate. Lower-interest debt can reasonably run alongside saving.
Less than most people expect. Over one to two years the difference between a 3% and 4% account on a modest balance is small. Over five or more years it becomes significant.