Savings Calculator
Set a savings goal and see exactly when you'll reach it
Results & Details
// Progress Toward Goal
// Milestones
Year-by-Year Breakdown
| Period | Deposits | Interest | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🏦 Calculate above to see your savings breakdown | |||
How to Use the Savings Calculator
Enter your savings goal, current balance, monthly deposit amount, and interest rate to see exactly how long it will take to reach your target. Choose a goal type using the tabs — Emergency Fund, House Deposit, Car, or Holiday — to load sensible defaults, or use Custom for any goal.
How Savings Growth Is Calculated
Your savings grow through two sources: your regular deposits and the interest earned on the total balance. Interest compounds at the frequency you choose — monthly compounding is most common for savings accounts.
What Is a Good Savings Rate?
A common guideline is to save at least 20% of your take-home income — the 50/30/20 rule allocates 50% to needs, 30% to wants, and 20% to savings and debt repayment. Even saving 10% consistently over many years builds substantial wealth through compound interest.
Emergency Fund
Most financial advisors recommend building an emergency fund covering 3–6 months of living expenses before investing. This protects you from unexpected costs such as job loss, medical bills, or car repairs without going into debt.
Saving Money: The Strategy Behind the Numbers
Built and verified by Andrius R. · Updated June 2026
A savings calculator answers "how much will I have" — but the harder questions are how much to save, where to keep it, and how to make it actually happen. All three have well-tested answers.
Where your savings rate matters (and where it barely does)
| Account | Rate (APY) | Balance after 3 years |
|---|---|---|
| High-yield savings account | 4.5% | ~$11,540 |
| Typical big-bank savings | 0.01% | ~$10,802 |
Same deposits ($10,800 contributed), different home for the money: a ~$740 difference in three years for a one-time account switch. On a $10,000 lump sum the gap is starker still — $450/year vs $1/year in interest. Moving cash out of a near-zero account is the highest-paid 20 minutes in personal finance.
The emergency fund: how big, really?
The standard guidance is 3–6 months of essential expenses (not income — expenses: rent, food, utilities, insurance, minimum debt payments). Where you land in that range depends on stability: dual steady incomes lean toward 3; freelancers, single earners, or anyone in a volatile industry lean toward 6 or more. Two practical points the headline rule skips: a starter fund of even $1,000–2,000 already prevents most debt spirals (car repairs, medical bills, emergency travel), so don't be discouraged by the full target; and the fund belongs in an instant-access savings account, not investments — its job is availability, not growth.
Pay yourself first (because the alternative demonstrably fails)
Saving "whatever's left at the end of the month" reliably produces a number near zero — spending expands to fill available money. The fix is mechanical, not motivational: an automatic transfer to savings on payday, before discretionary spending starts. Treating savings as the first bill, even a small one, outperforms willpower every month. Our budget calculator can help size the transfer; the popular 50/30/20 split allocates 20% of after-tax income to savings and debt repayment.
The order of operations for spare cash
- Starter emergency fund (~$1,000–2,000) — the firewall against new debt.
- Employer retirement match, if offered — an instant 50–100% return.
- High-interest debt — paying off a 22% credit card beats any savings account by a mile.
- Full emergency fund (3–6 months of expenses).
- Goals and investing — at this point, money for goals more than ~5 years away generally works harder invested than saved; see our compound interest calculator for why.
Don't let inflation eat the stockpile
Cash savings have a hidden leak: if your account pays 1% while inflation runs 3%, your balance grows while its buying power shrinks ~2% a year. That's fine for an emergency fund (availability is the point) but it's why holding large long-term sums in low-yield cash quietly loses money — run the numbers in our inflation calculator to see the effect on your own figures.
From the Blog
// 3–6 Month Rule
Build an emergency fund covering 3–6 months of expenses before anything else. It's your financial safety net.
// Pay Yourself First
Set up an automatic transfer on payday before you spend. You won't miss what you never see.
// High-Yield Accounts
Online savings accounts and cash ISAs often pay 4–5% — far more than a standard bank account.
// Small Increases
Increasing your monthly deposit by just £50 can shave months off your goal timeline thanks to compound interest.