What does the Savings Goal Calculator not do?

It does not know your budget, so it cannot tell you whether the monthly amount is comfortable, or whether this is the right goal for you. It assumes you save the same amount at the end of every month, and that your interest rate stays the same. It does not take tax off the interest. Part 2 shows a rough figure. Unless you switch it on, it assumes your goal will cost the same then as it does today. It is for money in the bank. It does not model investing. It does not recommend a bank or an account. It is not financial advice.

Savings Goal Calculator: How Much to Save Each Month

A home, a trip, a safety net: see how much to save each month, or when you’ll get there, in your own numbers.

Plan your savings goal

What do you want to find out?

How much should I save each month?

When will I reach my goal?

You know your goal and when you need it. We find how much to save each month.You know your goal and what you can save each month. We find the month you reach it.

Your goal

How much do you need?

The full amount, in today's money.

Already saved for it (optional)

Only money set aside for this goal. Leave it empty if you're starting from zero.

When do you need it?

The month you want to have the money.

Your estimates

Interest your savings earn each year

Your bank may call it APY. Not sure? Leave 2%.

Your estimate

Help

What this calculator is for

There is something you want. A home, a car, a trip, a safety net. You want to know it is really within reach, and what it will take, without going into debt.

The Savings Goal Calculator answers that in your own numbers. It tells you how much to put aside each month to have the money by a certain month. Or, if you already know what you can save, in which month you will get there.

Then it shows what your answer is made of, what could change it, and how small changes move it.

It is for money you keep in the bank: one interest rate, no investing. It puts the facts on the table. The decisions stay with you.

Two ways to ask

At the top of the calculator, under What do you want to find out?, there are two cards. Choose by what you already know:

How much should I save each month? You know your goal and when you need it. We find how much to save each month.
When will I reach my goal? You know your goal and what you can save each month. We find the month you reach it.

Neither one is the "simple" or the "advanced" one. They are two sides of the same goal.

Two kinds of answer

Every question gives you two answers, one after the other.

Your estimate is the quick one. It appears as soon as you have typed enough, and it changes while you type.

Before that, the card shows a ring that counts the boxes you have filled in (for example "2 of 3") and a short list under Still needed. The ring fills and the list gets shorter as you type.

The card gives the big answer (a monthly amount, or a month and year), then splits the money in two: Your money, what you put in yourself, and Interest adds, what the bank adds. The last line says what the answer assumes: the interest rate, and whether rising prices are included.

Under the card there is a line that says your answer is only part of the answer, a one-line preview of what the insights say for your numbers, and a button: 4 things worth knowing about reaching your goal. The number is how many parts the insights have for your case: four is the usual case, and it changes with your numbers. The preview line changes with your question and your numbers. For a goal of $10,000 by June 2028 with $1,000 already saved, at 2% interest in the United States, it reads: If prices rise 2.95% a year, your goal could cost about $10,496 by June 2028: $466 a month instead of $441.

The button opens the insights, in four numbered parts. At the top, What your numbers reveal lists them, one line each, with your own numbers; click a line to jump to its part:

A closer look at your numbers: a chart of your path to the goal, what each part of the money comes from, and what one missed month does.
Why real life may differ from your plan: rising prices, tax on the interest, and banks changing their rates, each with your own numbers.
Ways to make it work: what changes if you change one number, such as a later date or a little more each month.
Your next question: what people usually ask next, with a link.

It takes a minute or two to read, and it can change how you read your own number.

If you change a number after opening it, the button reads Update my numbers. Click it and the insights catch up.

Start over, next to Your estimates, clears everything you typed. If you click it by mistake, Undo brings your numbers back.

Your country, your currency

The calculator suggests a country from your browser's time zone. From the country it fills in the currency, how fast prices rise each year (inflation) and a usual tax rate on interest. You will see it in one line above the fields:

If the guess is wrong, click Not your country? Change it, type a few letters of your country and pick it. You can also change each figure yourself.

The tax figure is a general rate for your country, a starting point. It is not tax advice.

Your numbers stay private: what you type is calculated in your browser. It is not sent to us or stored.

Two scenarios, two people

Instead of a tour of every box, here is the calculator through the eyes of two people. Each one has a different question about the same kind of goal, and each question is one of the cards at the top.

Scenario 1: How much should I save each month? Sofia, 34, wants a deposit for a home by December 2029.
Scenario 2: When will I reach my goal? Emma, 29, can put aside $300 a month for her first car.

The people are made up. The numbers are the calculator's real answers for their inputs, in the United States, with the starting interest of 2% a year.

Open the scenario closest to your own question. You do not need to read both.

Start here when you know your goal and your date. You want to know what it takes each month.

Sofia's question

Sofia is 34, a freelance designer, and lives with her partner. She keeps $40,000 in an ordinary bank account, "to be safe".

Now she and her partner want a home. She needs $60,000 for the deposit by December 2029.

Her question: how much do I need to add each month to get there?

Her worry: losing any of it. That is why it sits in the bank.

What Sofia enters

She keeps the first card, How much should I save each month?.

In How much do you need? she types 60,000. The note under it says it is the full amount, in today's money.

In Already saved for it she types 40,000. Only money set aside for this goal counts here.

Under When do you need it? she chooses December and 2029. She needs both the month and the year; until both are chosen, the calculator asks for the missing one.

She leaves Interest your savings earn each year at 2%. Her bank may call it APY: the yearly rate, with interest on interest already counted in.

Sofia's answer

Sofia needs to save $444 a month, for 3 years and 2 months, to have $60,000 by December 2029.

Of the $60,000, $56,872 is her own money: the $40,000 she has, plus the monthly amounts. Interest adds $3,128.

Every amount is in today's money.

What the insights show Sofia

The preview line above the button already tells her the main thing: if prices rise 2.95% a year, her deposit could cost about $65,786 by December 2029, $592 a month instead of $444. She clicks 4 things worth knowing about reaching your goal.

Your path to your goal is a chart: her savings start at $40,000 and climb to $60,000 by December 2029; the dashed line is her goal. Under it, the money in three parts: $40,000 already saved, $16,872 she adds ($444 × 38 months), and $3,128 interest, the smallest part.

If you miss a month. Most people miss one at some point: a car repair, a holiday, a bill. If Sofia misses 2 months, the other 36 months need $470 each instead of $444 to keep December 2029.

Part 2, Why real life may differ from your plan, is where Sofia stops.

Inflation. Homes, like most things, tend to cost more later. If the price rises with prices in general, 2.95% a year in the United States, the same deposit costs about $65,786 by December 2029. To have that, she would save about $592 a month instead of $444.

Tax. The interest, about $3,128, may be taxed. The card shows roughly how much, at the rate in her country settings.

Markets. Banks change their rates. At 1% instead of 2%, she would save $485 a month; at 3%, $404.

Part 3, Ways to make it work, changes one number at a time:

Need it 6 months later: $373 a month, by June 2030.
Need it 12 months later: $318 a month, by December 2030.
Put in $1,000 more now: $417 a month, by December 2029.

Sofia's doubt

"My money is safe in the bank. So my plan is safe too, right?"

The money is safe. The plan has one thing the bank cannot protect: the price of what she is saving for.

$444 a month gets her to $60,000. If homes cost more by then, $60,000 may not be the deposit she needs. That is why the inflation card is there, and why More options has a switch: Include it in my goal. Switched on, the calculator plans for the higher price from the start.

Whether to switch it on is her call. The calculator shows both numbers.

Start here when you know what you can save each month. You want to know when you will get there.

Emma's question

Emma is 29 and has her first steady full-time job. She is single, and she can put aside $300 a month.

She wants her first car, about $10,000. She is starting from zero.

Her question: when will I have it?

Her worry: that small amounts will never add up to anything.

What Emma enters

She clicks the second card, When will I reach my goal?. The date field goes away, and How much can you save each month? takes its place.

In How much do you need? she types 10,000. She leaves Already saved for it empty, because she starts from zero.

In How much can you save each month? she types 300. She leaves the interest at 2%.

Emma's answer

Emma reaches her goal in June 2029: 2 years and 8 months from now, saving $300 a month.

Of the money, $9,900 is her own ($300 × 33 months). Interest adds $266, so in that month she has $10,166, a little more than her goal.

Every amount is in today's money.

What the insights show Emma

If you miss a month. Each missed month moves her date about one month later. Miss 2 months, and she gets there in August 2029 instead of June.

Inflation. If car prices rise 2.95% a year, the same car costs about $10,832 by June 2029. At $300 a month she would reach the higher price in September 2029, 3 months later.

Markets. At 1% or 3% interest instead of 2%, her month stays June 2029. On a short goal, the rate hardly moves the date. What she saves each month does.

Part 3, Ways to make it work, shows exactly that:

Save $25 more a month: April 2029, 2 months sooner.
Save $50 more a month: January 2029, 5 months sooner.
Save $100 more a month: October 2028, 8 months sooner.

Emma's doubt

"$300 a month feels like nothing. Is it even worth it?"

The calculator answers with her own numbers: in 33 months, $300 a month becomes a $10,000 car, paid in full, with no loan.

A 1% better rate does not move her date. $50 more a month brings it 5 months closer.

The rest of the page

The parts below are the same whichever question you chose.

Explore What It Really Takes to Reach Your Savings Goal

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Your savings goal: what it takes, and what can change

What your answer says, what moves it most, and what no calculator can know about your goal.

There is something you want: a car, a home, a trip, a safety net. You want to know it is really within reach, and what it will take, with less borrowing or none.

If you want to save money for something specific, this calculator answers one of two questions in your own numbers. How much do you need to put aside each month to have the money by a certain month? Or, if you already know what you can save each month, in which month will you get there?

Your answer is an estimate: the monthly amount, or the month you get there, if you put money aside at the end of every month and the interest you entered stays the same the whole time. It is worked out before tax on the interest. Unless you switch inflation on, it also assumes your goal will cost the same then as it does today. It is a plan to follow, not a promise.

What moves your number the most

The examples below start from one plan: a $15,000 car in 3 years, nothing saved yet, and the calculator’s starting interest of 2% a year. That takes about $405 a month.

More time makes the monthly amount easier. Give yourself 6 more months and it drops to about $345 a month. A full extra year, about $301.
A little more each month brings the date closer. Saving $455 instead of $405 gets you there 3 months sooner, and $505 gets you there 6 months sooner.
On a short goal, interest helps less than you might think. At 2%, interest adds about $429 of the $15,000. With no interest at all, you would need $417 a month instead of $405.
Rising prices can matter more than interest. Say the car’s price rises 2.95% a year (how fast prices in general rose in the US in 2024, World Bank; a car’s own price can rise faster or slower). Then it costs about $16,367 in 3 years, and you need about $442 a month. Switch it on under “More options” to see your own goal.
A missed month can push the date back. In this example, skipping one deposit of $405 means reaching the goal one month later.

Keep goal money apart from your safety net

An emergency fund is money for the things you don’t plan: a car repair, a medical bill, a gap between jobs. Goal money is for something you do plan. When both sit in one account, the first surprise bill quietly eats into the goal, and you lose track of how far you really are.

Many people keep two separate accounts, or at least two named “pots” in the same bank. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suggests keeping emergency money somewhere you won’t be tempted to spend it on anything else. The same logic protects your goal.

Where people usually keep money for a goal, and why rates differ

Most goal money sits in one of four places: a regular savings account, a high-yield savings account (often at an online bank), a certificate of deposit (CD), which pays a fixed rate if you leave the money in for a set time, or a money market account. They differ in how much interest they pay and how easily you can take the money out.

Rates differ a lot from bank to bank, and they change over time. Your bank shows yours as APY, the yearly rate with interest on interest already counted in. That is the number to enter in “Interest your savings earn each year”. In the US, money in an FDIC-insured bank is protected up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each ownership category (for example, accounts in your own name are one category, joint accounts another).

We don’t recommend a bank or an account. If you are weighing a CD, the CD Calculator shows what it would earn and what taking the money out early would cost.

Saving or investing the money for your goal?

This calculator is for saving: money that grows slowly and steadily. How easily you can take it out depends on the account; a CD, for example, may charge you for taking money out before its end date. Investing in stocks or funds can grow more over many years, but it can also be down in the very month you need the money.

That is why the time you have matters most. As FINRA puts it, how you save for a short-term goal will likely differ from how you save and invest for a long one. FINRA calls a goal short-term when it is less than three years away. Many people go further and keep money they need within about five years in savings rather than invested. For a longer goal, the Compound Interest Calculator shows how much a monthly amount could grow at a rate you choose.

Tax on the interest

In most countries the interest your savings earn is taxed. In the US it counts as income: the IRS treats bank interest as taxable, and you may receive a tax form for it from your bank (in the US, Form 1099-INT). The interest is taxable even if no form arrives. Other countries have their own rules, and some have tax-free savings accounts.

The calculator’s main answer does not take tax off. “Show me what else my numbers reveal” shows about how much tax your interest might carry, using a common rate for the country we detected as a rough starting figure. You can change the country or enter your own rate in the line above the fields. It is a general figure, not tax advice, and it does not change the monthly amount or the date. If you will pay the tax out of these savings, the goal needs a little more money or a little more time. On a short goal the interest, and so the tax, is usually small.

Things to check for your kind of goal

A home. Check what deposit (down payment) your lender really asks for, and add the costs that come on top of it, such as closing costs and moving. The deposit you need may be smaller or larger than the round number you have in mind.

A car. Decide whether you are saving for the full price or for a deposit, and remember insurance and registration in the first months.

A wedding or a big trip. Many costs are paid as deposits months before the date, so the month you need the money may come earlier than the event itself.

Worth testing while you’re here

Try both questions on your numbers: the monthly amount for the date you want, and the month you’d reach it at what you can really afford. Move the date 6 months later, or add $25 or $50 a month, and see what changes. Switch inflation on under “More options” if your goal is more than a year or two away.

Saving for more than one goal? Run the calculator once for each, then add up the monthly amounts to see the total you need to set aside. If you already have savings, split them between the goals, so the same money isn’t counted twice.

Curious how fast prices have really risen where you live? The Inflation Calculator shows it year by year. All our calculators are on the financial calculators page.

When the amounts feel too small to matter

Even a modest monthly amount adds up. Saved for 3 years at 2%, $50 a month becomes about $1,853; for 5 years, about $3,151. Small amounts saved every month add up to real money, and they build the habit that larger amounts later rely on.

Many people make it automatic: a transfer to the goal account on the day their pay arrives, before there is a chance to spend it.

What this calculator can’t know

It assumes you put the same amount aside at the end of every month, with no month missed, and that your interest rate stays the same.

It doesn’t know your budget, so it can’t tell you whether the monthly amount is affordable or whether this is the right goal for you. It doesn’t know whether your bank’s rate will go up or down, what tax you will really pay, or which account suits you best.

It shows what your numbers say. The decision stays with you.

Financial terms, explained

Words that appear in this calculator or on this page, in plain English.

Savings goal: A set amount you want to have by a certain time, for something specific: $15,000 for a car in 3 years.
Interest: What your bank adds to your savings, a small percent each year. Saving about $405 a month from zero to reach $15,000 in 3 years at 2%, interest adds about $429 of it.
APY (annual percentage yield): The yearly interest rate your bank shows, with interest on interest over the year already counted in. It is the number to enter in this calculator.
APR (annual percentage rate): A yearly rate without interest on interest counted in. Banks usually quote it for loans. For savings, look for the APY.
Compound interest: Interest that also earns interest: each month’s interest is added to your savings and earns interest from then on.
Inflation: Prices going up over time. At 2.95% a year, something that costs $10,000 today costs about $10,295 a year from now.
Today’s money: An amount at today’s prices. Your goal is entered in today’s money; with inflation switched on, the calculator works out what it will cost on the date.
Emergency fund: Money kept for unplanned costs, like a repair or a gap between jobs, separate from money for a goal.
High-yield savings account: A savings account, often at an online bank, that pays more interest than a regular one.
Certificate of deposit (CD): A bank account that pays a fixed rate if you leave the money in for a set time, often with a cost for taking it out early.
Money market account: A bank deposit account that usually pays more than a regular savings account and lets you take money out with some limits. In the US it is covered by FDIC insurance like a savings account. It is not the same as a money market fund, which is an investment.
Deposit insurance: Protection for money in a bank if the bank fails. In the US the FDIC covers up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each ownership category.
Tax on interest: The tax your country takes from the interest your savings earn. In the US it counts as income. IRS: interest received ↗
Down payment (deposit): The part of a home’s or car’s price you pay yourself up front; a loan covers the rest.

Common questions about saving for a goal

How much should I save each month for a goal?

Roughly: divide what is left to save by the months you have, then interest takes off a little. The calculator works it out exactly, month by month. For a $15,000 goal in 3 years with nothing saved, that is about $405 a month at 2% interest, or $417 with no interest. Enter your own goal and date above to get your number.

How long will it take to save $10,000?

At 2% interest and starting from zero: about 10 months at $1,000 a month, 20 months at $500 a month, and 33 months (2 years and 9 months) at $300 a month. Choose “When will I reach my goal?” above to see the month for your own amount.

What if I already have some money saved?

Enter it in “Already saved for it”. It also earns interest, so the monthly amount drops by more than you might expect. For the $15,000 goal in 3 years, starting with $3,000 already saved brings the monthly amount from about $405 to about $319.

What if the monthly amount is more than I can afford?

Switch the question to “When will I reach my goal?” and enter what you can really save each month: the calculator shows the month you’ll get there. Or move the date later, start with a smaller first goal, or check whether you need the whole amount (a smaller deposit on a home, for example).

Should I build an emergency fund first, or save for my goal?

It depends on your situation. Some people start with at least a small emergency fund, so a surprise bill doesn’t land on the goal money or on a credit card. Others save for both at once. How much to keep for emergencies depends on your situation: the CFPB’s guide suggests starting from the unexpected costs you have had before.

Does inflation matter for a short goal?

A little, and more the longer you wait. At 2.95% a year (the US in 2024), something that costs $10,000 today costs about $10,295 in one year and about $11,565 in five. Switch on inflation under “More options” to include it in your goal.

Is the interest on my savings taxed?

Usually yes. In the US, interest counts as income (IRS Topic 403). Other countries have their own rates and sometimes tax-free accounts. The calculator shows an estimate for your country in its expanded answer, and you can enter your own rate.

How do I save for several goals at once?

Run the calculator once for each goal, with its own amount and date, and add up the monthly amounts. Split any money you already have between the goals, so it isn’t counted twice. If the total is more than you can save, moving the date of the most flexible goal is one way to bring the total down.

Savings Goal Calculator (Excel)

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