Savings Account Calculator

Ever wonder what your money could look like a few years from now if you just let it sit (or added a little extra each month)? This savings calculator shows you.

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Enter your current balance, interest rate, and how much you plan to save each month. In seconds, you’ll see how your balance could grow over time, and how much of that growth comes from interest doing the work for you.

Table of Contents

How to use this savings calculator

Not sure what to plug in? Here’s how each field works and what it means for your savings goals.

Inputs: What to enter

• Starting balance: The amount of money you have in savings right now, whether that’s $0, $50, or $10,000.
• Years to grow: How long you plan to leave your money in the account. The longer it sits, the more time interest has to multiply.
• Annual interest rate: The percentage your bank pays you for keeping money in the account. You can find this number (often called APY) on your bank’s website or app.
• Monthly contribution: How much you plan to add to your savings account each month.
• Compounding frequency: How often your savings account accrues interest, usually daily, monthly, or quarterly. You can find this info by searching for the word “compound” in your savings account agreement.

Results: What you’ll see

• Total projected balance: Your future balance, including your starting money, monthly deposits, and all the interest you’ll earn.
• Future value of starting balance: How much your current savings will grow on its own, without adding anything extra.
• Future value of contributions: How much your monthly deposits will grow over time if you started from $0.
• Total principal contributed: The total amount of your own money you’ve put in before interest.
• Total interest earned: The extra money your savings generated just by sitting in the account and compounding.

Example: How your savings can grow over time

Let’s say you open a savings account with $5,000 and set up an automatic transfer of $100 a month. You pick an account that earns 4% interest, compounded monthly, and let it sit for five years.

At the end of that time, you’d have about $12,757 saved, and roughly $1,757 of that is pure interest. That’s money your money earned while you did nothing.

Now, here’s where it gets interesting

If you kept the same setup—$5,000 starting balance, $100 a month—but used a regular savings account at 0.10%, you’d end up with about $11,040. That’s a difference of more than $1,700 just from choosing a better interest rate.

So when people say high-yield savings accounts “do the heavy lifting,” this is what they mean.

When to use a savings calculator

We personally think using a savings account calculator can be most helpful in these situations.

When comparing savings accounts

If you’re deciding between a regular and a high-yield account, for example, this savings calculator can help you visualize just how much different interest rates can affect your future balance.

Wanna give it a try? Plug in any rates from our best savings accounts list compared with what you earn in your current savings account to see how much difference it can make.

When setting short-term goals

Planning a vacation, a new car, or a home down payment? Plug in your goal amount and timeline to see how much you’ll need to save each month to hit your target.

When growing your emergency fund

Even if your goal is simply to build a three- or six-month safety net, a savings calculator helps you visualize progress and stay motivated.

When you want to see compound interest in action

It’s one thing to know your money earns interest. It’s another to see how that interest earns its own interest over time. Seeing these numbers IRL can be exciting.

FAQ

What’s a good interest rate for a savings account?

At the moment (in late October 2025), the best savings accounts earn around 3.50% or higher. For context, many traditional savings accounts earn a fraction of this amount, around 0.40% on average.

How often is interest compounded?

Many savings accounts compound interest daily, but you’ll want to double-check your account agreement to confirm what to input into this savings calculator. The rule of thumb is that the more your interest compounds, the faster your balance grows. So daily compounding is best, while yearly compounding would be the worst.

Does the calculator include taxes or fees?

No. This calculator does not include taxes or maintenance fees. If fees get taken out or you plan to withdraw any of your balance early, your actual earnings may end up slightly lower than the estimate.