Reckonary / Finance / Savings goal
Save each month
Set aside $347 a month and you'll reach $30,000 in 5 years, right on schedule.
Same math, shown. No hidden assumptions.
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Most savings calculators work forward: you put in a monthly amount and they tell you what you'll end up with. This one works backward. You start with the number you actually care about — a house deposit, a wedding, a year of tuition, a fully funded emergency fund — and a date to hit it, and it solves for the one figure you can't easily do in your head: the steady monthly contribution that lands you exactly on target, with interest doing part of the work.
Reaching a goal has two engines: the money you put in, and the growth on money already sitting in the account. The calculator runs both. It grows your starting balance forward to the deadline, subtracts that from your target to find the gap your contributions must close, then solves the future-value-of-an-annuity formula for the payment that fills exactly that gap by the final month.
Take a $30,000 goal in 5 years, starting from $5,000, at a 5% return. Your $5,000 grows to about $6,417 on its own over those 60 months. That leaves roughly $23,583 for your contributions to cover — and at $346.78 a month you'd pay in $20,807 of your own money, with interest quietly supplying the other $4,193. You contribute less than the $25,000 gap because every dollar you save also earns along the way.
For short, low-rate goals, less than you'd hope. For long ones, a lot. The same $30,000 goal from $5,000 makes this concrete:
The pattern is the point: interest helps most when it has both a decent rate and many years to compound. Over a year or two it barely moves the needle, so for near-term goals you should plan to fund almost the whole thing yourself.
Time is the cheapest lever you have. Keeping the $30,000 goal and the $5,000 start at 5%, watch what the deadline does to the monthly amount:
Doubling the timeframe from 5 to 10 years more than halves the monthly payment, because you get twice as many contributions and far more compounding to share the load. If the suggested amount feels out of reach, pushing the date out is almost always the gentlest fix — more so than chasing a higher return, which adds risk you may not want for a goal you can't afford to miss.
Every month you wait is a month of contributions and compounding you don't get back, so the bill for the months you do have goes up. A $10,000 goal in 5 years from a standing start needs $147.05 a month at 5%; at 0% it's $166.67. The earlier you begin, the more of the work interest can take off your hands — and the more forgiving the plan is if life forces you to skip a month later on.
Want to see how the split between your deposits and the interest moves as you change the deadline — and what inflation does to the goal while you wait? See how much to save each month, and what the interest covers.
What if I can't afford the monthly amount it suggests?
You have three levers: extend the deadline, raise your starting balance, or lower the goal. Pushing the date out usually helps the most, since you get more months and more compounding to share the load.
Should I count my employer match or bonuses toward this?
Only count money you'll reliably move into the account on schedule. One-off amounts like a bonus are better added to your starting balance once they actually arrive, then recalculated.
What return rate is realistic for a savings goal?
For a short goal you'll likely keep the money in a savings account or money market, so use the rate you're actually offered. For a goal many years out, people often assume a more moderate blended rate.
Is this the same as a sinking fund?
Yes, in spirit. A sinking fund means setting aside a fixed amount each period for a known future expense. This calculator finds that fixed amount for you and adds in any interest the balance earns.
Last reviewed June 2026. This tool is for education, not financial advice.