Turning a savings target into a timeline
Setting a savings goal is easy; knowing when you will actually reach it is harder, because interest quietly does some of the work for you. This calculator answers a simple question: given what you have now, what you can put away each month, and the interest you earn, how many months until you hit your target?
How to use the savings goal calculator
Enter your target amount, your current savings, your planned monthly deposit, and the annual interest rate on the account. The calculator returns the number of months (and years) to reach the goal, the total you will have deposited, and how much of the final balance came from interest rather than your own money.
How it is calculated
Each month the balance grows in two ways: it earns interest on the existing balance, then your deposit is added. Written out, balance = balance × (1 + monthly rate) + deposit, repeated month after month until the balance reaches your target. Because the interest compounds, the last few months often arrive faster than you would expect.
Reaching your goal sooner
Increasing the monthly deposit has the biggest and most reliable effect. A higher interest rate helps too, and the difference between 0% and a few percent grows the longer the timeline. If your goal is years away, a higher-interest savings account or term deposit can shave meaningful time off — and unlike investing, a savings account keeps the balance predictable, which matters when you have a fixed deadline like a house deposit or a wedding.