Try these example inputs in the Savings goal calculator.
These figures match this guide's worked example. They are illustrative. They stay on this device and never appear in the URL.
A savings-goal calculation runs compound growth backward. You name the balance you want, what you have now, a rate, and a number of years. The result is the monthly amount that closes the gap.
Key takeaways
Monthly contribution is the end-of-month payment that grows the current balance to the goal over the years, at the monthly rate.
At a 0% return the payment is simply the gap divided by the number of months. Growth does no work in that case.
Goal $100,000. Current balance $10,000. Annual return 7%. Horizon 10 years.
The current $10,000 grows for 120 months. The calculator then solves for the payment that lands on $100,000. That payment is about $461.64 a month. Over 120 months you add about $55,397. The rest of the path from $10,000 to $100,000 is growth.
Run the same inputs in the savings goal calculator. If you already know the payment and want the ending balance instead, use the compound growth calculator.
It is the contribution that hits one target under one rate. A higher rate, or a larger balance today, lowers the payment. A shorter horizon raises it.
Raises, taxes, fees, and a return that changes are not in the formula. Unless today's-dollar mode is on, the goal you type is a nominal future balance. If the number in your head is today's purchasing power and you stay in nominal mode, raise it for inflation first. Today's-dollar mode keeps the goal in today's dollars and uses a real return, so do not inflate that goal again. Do not mix a real target with a nominal growth rate.
Example: $100,000 of today's purchasing power in 10 years at 2% inflation needs about $121,899 nominal — $100,000 × (1.02)^10. Feeding $100,000 into a 7% nominal return would understate the monthly amount needed to keep that purchasing power.
A company ranking cannot set a savings target. Type the goal, years, and rate in the savings-goal calculator. The $100,000 example above is the worked case on that page.
For general education only. Nothing here is investment advice.
Formulas and worked examples are MarketCapLens's. See who checks the numbers.