Savings goal calculator

How to use the calculator

1. Choose a currency. It changes the symbol only.
2. Under Your goal, enter the Amount you want, what’s Already saved toward it and the Months until you need it. The line under that box shows the month you’d reach.
3. Under Interest, enter your account’s Savings rate (APY / AER). Use 0% for cash at home or an account that pays nothing.

The results show how much to Save each month, the weekly equivalent, what you’ll pay in, the interest you’ll earn and the month you’d be ready. If what you’ve saved will grow to the goal by itself, the calculator says you’re already on track.

How the numbers are worked out

The calculator grows what you’ve saved at your rate, takes that from the goal, and finds the monthly deposit that covers the rest by the date, with interest on each deposit. As a formula, with deposits at the end of each month:

PMT = (FV − PV × (1 + i)ⁿ) × i ÷ ((1 + i)ⁿ − 1)

FV is the goal, PV what you’ve saved, n the number of months and i the monthly rate, (1 + APY)^1/12 − 1. With the defaults (a US$10,000 goal, US$1,000 saved, 24 months and 3.5% a year):

1. i = (1.035)^1/12 − 1 = 0.0028709, or 0.287% a month.
2. (1 + i)²⁴ = 1.071225, so the $1,000 grows to $1,071.23 and $8,928.78 is left to cover.
3. PMT = 8,928.78 × 0.0028709 ÷ 0.071225 = $359.90 a month, which is $83.05 a week ($359.90 × 12 ÷ 52).

Over the 24 months you’d pay in $8,637.51, and interest would add the other $362.49. With no interest the sum is (10,000 − 1,000) ÷ 24 = $375.00 a month.

How much to save per month

Start with the amount still needed divided by the months left; interest then takes a little off. Over two years, the rate moves the monthly amount by a few dollars:

The months make the bigger difference. Moving the default date from 24 to 36 months cuts the deposit from $359.90 to $234.79 a month, and over 60 months it’s $134.80. If the amount won’t fit your budget, the levers are the date, the goal and what you can put in at the start; the 50/30/20 budget calculator shows what share of take-home pay a monthly amount would be.

Where to keep goal money

How soon you need the money decides what a fall in its value would do to the plan.

For money you’ll need within about two years, an easy-access savings account keeps it available, and over that span interest is a small part of the result (the chart above shows how small). A goal with a fixed date one to five years away can also go in a fixed-term account, called a certificate of deposit (CD) in the US, a fixed-rate bond in the UK, a GIC in Canada and a term deposit in Australia. These pay a set rate for locking the money away, and taking it out early can cost interest or may not be allowed. On 21 September 2026 the FDIC’s national averages were 0.37% for US savings accounts and 1.73% for 12-month CDs.

Over five years or more, investing part of the money is an option, with a risk that savings don’t carry. Share prices can fall, and a 20% fall on a US$10,000 pot just before the date leaves $8,000. The calculator can’t show that risk.

Deposits are protected up to a limit if a bank fails. In the US the FDIC covers $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category, and in the UK the FSCS protects £120,000 per eligible person at each authorized bank, building society or credit union (since 1 December 2025). The emergency fund calculator page lists the limits for six countries. None of these schemes covers a fall in the price of shares or funds.

Scroll is education, not advice. Our lessons and calculators explain how money works in general. They don’t know your circumstances, so they can’t tell you what to do with yours. For that, speak to a qualified, regulated adviser in your country.

Sinking funds

A sinking fund is a savings goal for a cost you can see coming, such as an insurance renewal, a boiler service or a replacement phone. You split the bill into monthly amounts, so the money is there when it arrives. One of the app’s Saving lessons is called “Sinking funds: paying for the future you can see”, and our guide to sinking funds and emergency funds lists common ones in dollars.

Here are four costs for someone in the UK, worked out at 0% so the sums are easy to check:

At 3% AER the total falls to about £130.58 a month, so interest saves about £2 a month here. Run each cost through the calculator on its own to get each pot’s figure. An emergency fund is different: it covers costs you can’t date, such as losing a job or an urgent repair, so it’s sized from monthly spending instead of from a bill.

A worked example in pounds

This example is made up; the numbers come from the calculator.

Kwame, in the UK, wants £3,000 for a family wedding in 15 months and has £400 saved in an account paying 3% AER. That’s £169.37 a month, or about £39 a week. Over the 15 months he’d pay in £2,540.61 and interest would add £59.39; with no interest he’d need £173.33 a month.

What the calculator assumes

It keeps your rate the same for the whole period, though banks change their rates, and it compounds the APY or AER monthly with each deposit added at the end of the month. Results are before tax. In the US, most interest is taxable in the year it’s credited to an account you can withdraw from without penalty (IRS), so a large goal held for years can owe some tax along the way.