Savings Calculator
A savings account in one picture: starting balance, monthly deposits and an APY, growing year by year — with your contributions and the bank's interest separated.
Deposits in, APY applied, honestly separated
A savings plan has two engines: what you put in and what the account adds. This calculator tracks both and reports them separately, because motivation lives in the split — watching the interest line grow from a rounding error into a second contributor is the quiet pleasure of the habit.
Each month: balance = balance × (1 + APY)1/12 + deposit
Example: $1,000 to start, $200 a month, 4% APY, 10 years: you deposit $25,000 in total and finish near $29,560 — about $4,560 of it contributed by interest. Double the years and interest contributes more than half the ending balance.
Why APY, not a nominal rate, drives this page
Savings accounts quote APY — the effective yield — so this calculator takes the rate as an APY and converts it to its exact monthly equivalent. Feed it a nominal rate instead and the projection runs slightly hot; the compound interest calculator is the page that speaks nominal.
How this is calculated
The monthly growth factor is derived from the APY: (1 + APY)^(1/12) − 1, so a year of growth reproduces the APY exactly. Deposits land at month end. The chart and totals come from that month-by-month run. If your account instead quotes a nominal rate with a compounding frequency, use the compound interest calculator, which is built for that dialect.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I find my account's APY?
On the account's rate sheet or app details screen — banks must disclose it. If you see two rates, the higher one is the APY; enter that here.
Are savings account rates fixed?
Usually variable: the APY can change any time, which is why high-yield accounts advertise aggressively in rising-rate periods. The projection holds today's APY constant — a modeling choice, stated openly.
Does this include tax on interest?
No. Interest is taxable income in the US and many other countries in the year it is credited. The projection is pre-tax, like nearly all savings illustrations.
Emergency fund or investing — which first?
A starter emergency fund (the emergency fund calculator sizes it) usually precedes investing, because savings' job is certainty, not return. After that, the comparison becomes about rates and risk.
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