A walkthrough, end to end.
- 1
Enter your starting balance, monthly deposit, savings APY, and number of years.
- 2
The calculator returns your projected balance and the breakdown of contributions vs. interest earned.
- 3
Vary the monthly deposit to find what reaches your target.
Future value of regular deposits
Same formula as investment future value, but with savings-account compounding (typically monthly or daily). Most savings products compound interest monthly; high-yield online savings accounts often compound daily.
What you can do with this.
Emergency fund target
Most personal finance guidance suggests 3–6 months of essential expenses. For $4,000/mo expenses, target $12K–$24K. Use the calculator to find what monthly deposit hits that in 12–24 months.
House down payment savings
20% down on a $400K home is $80K. At 4.5% APY with $1,000/mo deposits, you'd hit it in ~6 years. Higher monthly deposits or higher rate accounts shrink the timeline materially.
Wedding / vacation fund
For short-term goals (1–2 years), the savings rate matters less than the deposit amount — you don't have time for compounding to do much. Focus on consistency, not yield optimization.
High-yield savings vs. checking
Big-bank checking pays ~0.01%; online high-yield savings pays 4–5%. On $20K, that's $1,000/yr difference for the same deposit and zero risk. Always pick the high-yield option for cash savings.
Sinking funds for known expenses
Set up separate savings 'buckets' for known annual costs (car insurance, holidays, taxes). Computing the monthly deposit per bucket eliminates the year-end scramble.
FDIC insurance limits
FDIC insures up to $250K per depositor per bank per category. For balances above that, split across multiple banks or use a CDARS network — same yield, more insurance.
Savings calculator 2026 — what's current
High-yield savings accounts (Marcus, Ally, SoFi, Wealthfront Cash) consistently offer 4–5% APY with no minimums. Money-market funds (VMFXX, SPAXX) sometimes pay slightly more but aren't FDIC-insured.
Frequently asked.
A common benchmark is 20% of gross income (the 50/30/20 rule). For aggressive financial independence goals, 30–50%. For just-staying-afloat, even 5% is meaningfully better than zero.
Yes for amounts under $250K per bank per category. Most savings shouldn't be in a savings account anyway above the emergency fund — long-term money belongs in invested accounts.
Difference is small at typical rates — about 0.05% extra APY at 5% rate. Use the monthly default; the result will be within ~0.1% of the daily-compound truth over typical horizons.
No. Calculations run entirely in your browser — no server, no analytics, no cookies.