A goal becomes a monthly plan
Work backward from a savings target or forward from a monthly amount, with an example you can check by hand.
Preview · Editorial approval is still pending.
USD examples. Calculator settings do not convert this article’s amounts.
A savings goal connects four ideas: the amount you want, what you already have, what you add, and how long you wait. The SEC’s savings goal calculator uses these relationships, with an estimated interest rate, to explore a monthly saving amount.
Start with the gap
Imagine a $1,500 goal with $300 already saved. The gap is $1,200. If you save $150 each month and exclude interest, you reach the goal after eight months. At $100 per month, the same gap takes twelve months.
A bigger monthly step shortens this example by four months. The goal and starting savings have not changed.
If the deadline matters more than the monthly amount, work backward. A $100.01 gap spread across three months requires $33.34 per month when deposits must be whole cents. Three deposits of $33.33 total $99.99, which misses the goal. Rounding upward matters when a result is presented as enough to reach a target.
Choose the question before changing the numbers
“How long will it take?” holds the monthly deposit steady and checks each whole month until the target is met. “How much per month?” holds the deadline steady and solves for the deposit. These are related questions with different answers and units.
Our savings goal calculator defaults to zero interest. If you turn on an interest assumption, choose simple or compound interest. Simple interest applies only to the money you contribute. With compound interest, earlier interest also earns interest after it is added—every month, every 3 months, every 6 months or every year, counting from the start of your scenario. Your deposits remain monthly.
The model uses equal-length months. For compound interest, the projected total and goal check include interest earned during an unfinished compounding period. That interest starts earning more interest only when the period ends. A projected goal date may therefore include interest that has not yet been added to the balance. Actual account calculations and payment dates may differ. Taxes, fees, changing rates and missed deposits are not included.
When the answer needs a sentence
If you already have enough saved, the answer is zero months. If no money is being added and no existing balance is growing, the goal cannot be reached under those assumptions. A goal that takes longer than the model’s 600 months is a different case: it has simply not been reached within the supported horizon.
Treat the picture as a way to compare choices. The calculator cannot decide whether the monthly amount fits your actual bills. The budget split tool provides another view of that tradeoff without rating your choices.