Simple savings calculator

A juicy high-yield savings account can jumpstart your rainy-day fund or help you reach a goal, but a free savings calculator can help you understand just how quickly your cash will grow over time. Use our calculator below to better understand where you stand. 

How to use the savings calculator 

Play with four numbers to see how your money can grow over time.

1. Type in your initial deposit. This is the amount of your first contribution.
2. Figure your monthly contribution. If your contribution will vary, it’s fine to guess the average or even try a few numbers to see what your results will look like.  
3. Get the APY. This differs by account and changes frequently. Look up the APY on your savings account. The national average savings rate as of March 20, 2023 was 0.37%, but the best high yield savings accounts all have rates over 4% APY. 
4. Select the length of time. On our savings calculator, you can select months or years and type in the number you want. 

Hit “calculate” to see the results. 

What is a savings calculator and how does it work?

A savings calculator does the math for you, estimating how much money you’ll have in a savings account based on four factors:

Initial deposit. This is the amount you put in the account once it’s opened. Some banks require a minimum amount to open a savings account while others don’t. If you already have an account and you want to calculate your savings from today onward, you can count the initial deposit as however much you currently have. As a baseline, here’s how much you should have in savings. 

Monthly contribution. Will you add to your savings every month? If so, that’s your monthly contribution. It can be helpful to automate this and have your bank sweep some of your paycheck to your savings each month from your checking account. 

Annual percentage yield (APY). This is how much money you earn by keeping your cash in a savings account. It’s a percentage because exactly how much you earn is based on the amount of money deposited and how long it’s there. The bigger the number, the better. 

Time. The longer you keep your funds in an account, the more you’ll earn. If you have extra funds that you don’t need to access and can put away for a couple months or more, consider getting a certificate of deposit (CD).

Real-life examples: How a savings calculator can help

Saving for a vacation

Imagine you’ve got six months to save up for the vacation of your dreams. While you can use one of the best travel reward credit cards, it’s smart to have the money ready to be able to pay it off. 

In this example, the entire trip will cost $2,000 and you’ve only got $900 right now. Using the calculator, plug in the $900 as your initial deposit and six months for the length of time. You find a savings account that pays 4.50% APY and you’re willing to join that bank, so you put in 4.50% as the APY in the calculator. 

The only thing missing is the monthly contribution. How much should you save each month to reach $2,000? 

Try a few numbers and find what works. In this case, saving $180 a month, in addition to interest, will bring your six-months of savings to just above $2,000. 

Saving up for a home down payment

Let’s say you want to buy a home in five years, and you need to save up $10,000 for a downpayment. 

You’ve just entered the workforce, so you only have $500 for an initial deposit, though you expect to make monthly contributions immediately, and you’ve found an account that nets 4.50% APY. 

Start playing around to see how much you need to save each month. For instance, $100 a month would leave you with less than 75% of your goal, while $200 a month would result in more than $4,000 over what you need. 

The right answer is $140. 

This lets you know how much you’ll have to put away each month so you can adjust your budget accordingly. 

Deciding if a new bank account is worth it

There can be a lot of friction in changing where you bank. Whatever demand deposit account you choose, setting up a new direct deposit, new bill pay rules and waiting a couple days for a new debit card can be annoying. 

Why go through all of that? The short answer: if you’ll earn more money. 

Imagine you have $1,500 in savings and you save $300 a month. If your current account pays the national average APY of 0.37%, you’ll earn only $12 in interest in one year and $37 in two years. If the new account offers 4.50% APY, you’ll earn $144 in one year and $460 in two years. 

Earning more than  four additional percentage points in interest would be well worth your time to switch accounts. A much smaller increase, though, may not. 

Still, you’re better off seeing how much more you’ll earn before making a decision.

Want to guarantee a high interest rate? Check out our best CDs. 

Limitations

The savings calculator is only an estimate. If any of the elements morph, the result will change. 

Having a large pot of cash that you can access at any time can be tempting. But if you take money out of the account or put less in, you’ll have less cash earning interest and won’t earn as much as you expected.

In the same vein, if you often delay monthly deposits or skip months, the money you do put in will spend less time in the account and therefore you’ll also earn less interest. 

And, finally, interest rates change frequently. They’re predicted to continue going up this year, which is great news for savers. You can read more about that on the CD rates forecast. Yet, no one knows for sure what future rates will be and our savings calculator can’t account for multiple rates over one time period.