FREE CALCULATOR
Future value calculator
See what money set aside today, plus what you add along the way, could grow to over time. Type the rate your account or investment actually pays, and the calculator shows the result, how much of it is growth, and the balance year by year.
Year by year
How the balance builds: what you add each year, what it earns, and where it ends. Growth is small at first and larger later, because the earlier growth keeps earning too.
How to read this
- Future value
- What the balance would be at the end, if the growth rate held the whole time. Real rates move, so treat it as a projection, not a promise.
- Growth earned
- The part of the final amount that did not come out of your pocket. Interest earns interest, which is why growth speeds up in later years.
- How often interest is added
- The more often interest is added to the balance, the sooner it starts earning too. Between monthly and daily the difference is small; between yearly and monthly it shows.
- What is left out
- Taxes, fees, and inflation. Growth in many accounts is taxable, and a dollar in ten years buys less than a dollar today, so the real result is smaller than the number here.
A worked example
You set aside $5,000 today and add $300 at the end of every month, in an account that pays 4% a year, added monthly. After 10 years the balance is about $51,600: the $5,000 you started with, $36,000 you added, and about $10,600 of growth.
Leave it 5 more years and the balance reaches about $82,900, with about $23,900 of growth. Those last five years earned more than the first ten, because the growth itself kept growing.
Example figures, not client figures.
FAQ
Questions about future value
What does future value mean?
It is what an amount of money would be worth at a later date, once interest or returns have been added. The calculator starts with what you have, adds what you plan to put in, and applies the growth rate you type, month after month.
What growth rate should I use?
The rate your account or investment actually pays, or the one quoted by whoever manages it. We do not suggest a rate. Run the calculator with a lower rate too, so you can see how much the result depends on it.
Does the result include taxes or inflation?
No. It is the balance before taxes and fees, with no adjustment for inflation. Growth in many accounts is taxable, so the money you could actually spend may be less than the number shown.
What does compounding mean?
Interest is added to the balance, and from then on the interest earns interest too. “Every month” means it is added twelve times a year. Your account terms say how often yours is added; if they do not, the difference between monthly and daily is small.
Does the calculator save my numbers?
No. The calculation happens in your browser, and nothing you enter is stored or sent. You can print the result or save it as a PDF.
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