Balance over time
Year by year
The formula
How it works
See how regular deposits and compound interest grow your savings over time. Enter a starting amount, a monthly deposit, an interest rate and a number of years to project your final balance — and how much of it is interest.
FAQ
How does compounding help my savings?
Interest is added to your balance and then earns interest itself. Combined with regular deposits, this makes the balance curve upward, so the last few years grow much faster than the first.
Does the deposit timing matter?
A little. This calculator assumes deposits are made monthly and interest compounds monthly. Depositing earlier in each period, or more often, earns slightly more interest over long horizons.
Does this account for inflation?
No, the projection is in today’s currency terms and does not reduce the balance for inflation. To see purchasing power, compare your interest rate against expected inflation separately.
Does the result include tax on the interest?
No, the interest shown is gross. Many savings accounts are taxable, so your actual take-home interest may be lower depending on your local rules and allowances.
How much difference does starting a few years earlier make?
A large one — because compounding is multiplicative, the extra years at the start of the timeline earn interest for the longest, so an earlier start often outweighs a bigger monthly deposit later.
What if I need to withdraw money partway through?
This calculator assumes no withdrawals, so a real withdrawal would reduce the balance and the interest it earns afterward. Rerun the numbers with a lower starting amount from the withdrawal date if you plan to dip into the fund.
Is it better to save a lump sum or spread it monthly?
A lump sum deposited today grows for the full period and usually ends up larger than the same total spread across monthly deposits, since each later deposit has less time left to compound.
About the savings calculator
This calculator projects how a savings pot grows when you combine a starting balance, regular monthly deposits and compound interest. It is the tool to reach for when you have a goal in mind — an emergency fund, a house deposit or a holiday — and want to know how long it will take and how much the bank’s interest will add on top. Seeing the interest broken out from your own deposits makes the power of saving early very clear.
How to use it
Enter the amount you are starting with, how much you will add each month, the annual interest rate your account pays, and how many years you will save for. The calculator shows the final balance, split into the money you put in and the interest earned, and charts the balance year by year. For example, $1,000 plus $100 a month at 5% for ten years grows to about $17,200 — of which roughly $4,200 is interest on top of your $13,000 of deposits.
The formula
The final balance combines two parts: your starting amount growing on its own, and your stream of deposits each growing from the day it lands. It is , where is the starting amount, is the monthly deposit, is the monthly interest rate (the annual rate divided by 12) and is the number of months. The first term is compound interest on the lump sum; the second is the future value of a regular deposit.
Where it is used
Savers use this to plan toward goals and to compare accounts, since a higher rate or a bigger monthly deposit visibly changes the outcome. Parents use it for education funds, and anyone building an emergency cushion uses it to set a realistic timeline. The same maths powers retirement and investment projections, where regular contributions and compounding over decades turn modest monthly sums into large final balances.