See how a savings account builds up over time with regular deposits and a chosen annual percentage yield. Enter your numbers below for an instant projection.
This savings growth calculator projects how a deposit account builds over time when you combine a starting balance, regular monthly deposits and an annual percentage yield. It is designed for the everyday goals that belong in cash rather than the stock market: an emergency fund, a house down payment, a wedding, a planned car purchase or simply a healthy cash cushion. Enter your numbers and you get the projected balance, the total you will have deposited and the interest the account earned along the way, plus an optional year-by-year table.
The defining feature of savings, compared with investing, is relative predictability. Because a high-yield savings account may be FDIC insured when held at an FDIC-insured institution and within applicable coverage limits, and pays a stated yield rather than a fluctuating market return, the projection here tends to be closer to what you will actually see than an investment forecast can be. That relative stability is part of why savings suit short and medium-term goals. For money you will not touch for a decade or more, the investment growth calculator models the higher but bumpier path of a market portfolio. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
A savings balance grows from two sources: the money you deposit and the interest the bank credits on whatever is already in the account. Each month the bank applies a slice of your annual yield to the balance, that interest is added back, and the next month's interest is calculated on the slightly larger total. This is compounding, the same engine described in detail on the compound interest calculator, simply applied at the gentler pace of a deposit account. The calculator above divides your APY by twelve and runs the cycle month by month so the projection matches how online savings accounts actually credit interest.
At savings-account yields, the interest is modest relative to your contributions, so in the first few years your own deposits make up the overwhelming majority of the balance. This is the opposite emphasis from long-term investing, where compounding eventually overtakes contributions. For a savings goal it means the size and consistency of your monthly deposit is the lever that matters most — the yield helps, but the habit is what gets you there. If you want to see how a single lump sum grows on its own with no recurring deposits, the future value calculator isolates that case.
The most common reason people open a high-yield savings account is to build an emergency fund — a reserve of three to six months of essential expenses kept somewhere safe and instantly accessible. This calculator is a natural planning tool for that goal. Decide on your target, enter the monthly amount you can realistically set aside, and watch how many years it takes the projected balance to reach the number. If the timeline feels too long, the calculator makes the trade-offs obvious: a larger monthly deposit shortens it far more than a higher yield does.
Keeping an emergency fund in a high-yield account rather than a standard one means your safety net quietly earns its keep instead of losing ground to inflation. The difference between a near-zero traditional savings rate and a competitive online yield, compounded over several years on a five-figure balance, adds up to real money — money you did nothing to earn beyond choosing the right account.
Beyond emergencies, the same projection works for any dated savings goal. Suppose you want $30,000 for a down payment in five years. Enter a starting balance, set the years to five, and experiment with the monthly deposit until the future value lands on your target. Now you have a concrete monthly savings number to build your budget around, rather than a vague hope. Re-running the calculation whenever your circumstances change keeps the plan honest.
Say you begin with $5,000, add $300 a month, and assume a 4.5 percent APY held steady for ten years. Your deposits over that decade would come to $36,000 plus the opening $5,000, and at a constant rate the interest stacked on top would lift the ending balance above the $41,000 you put in. Lengthen the timeline or raise the deposit and the gap between contributions and interest widens. Actual yields vary over time, so treat the figure as an estimate; enter your own numbers above to see the version that matches your goal.
Savings yields are variable, which is the one wrinkle to plan around. The APY you open an account with moves up and down with the central bank's benchmark rate, so the rate in your projection is a snapshot, not a lifetime guarantee. A sensible habit is to run the calculator once at today's yield and again at a lower one, so you can see how your plan holds up if rates fall. It is also worth comparing accounts periodically, since online banks compete on yield and switching is usually painless.
Finally, match the account to the job. Cash you might need within a few years belongs in savings, where it is protected and liquid. Money earmarked for retirement decades away has historically tended to grow faster invested, though returns vary and past performance does not guarantee future results — the retirement calculator frames that longer horizon around a target retirement date, and a quick way to gauge how fast any balance doubles at a given rate is the Rule of 72 calculator. Using the right tool for each pot of money is the whole game.
A high-yield savings account is not the only safe home for cash, and it helps to know where it sits among the alternatives. A certificate of deposit, or CD, locks your money away for a fixed term in exchange for a guaranteed rate, which can be attractive when you are certain you will not need the funds before maturity but costs you flexibility and may carry an early-withdrawal penalty. A money market account behaves much like a savings account, sometimes adding limited check-writing, and typically pays a comparable yield. The savings account's edge is liquidity: you can move money in and out freely, which is exactly what an emergency fund demands.
Because this calculator assumes a single steady yield, it models a savings or money market account most faithfully. To approximate a CD, simply enter its fixed rate, set the monthly deposit to zero, and use the term length as the number of years — the projected balance is then the CD's value at maturity. Comparing that figure against a flexible savings projection at a slightly lower variable rate is a clean way to weigh certainty against access before you commit.
Saving well is as much about why as how much. These guides put your deposits in context — read the full library in the Learn hub.
Set targets, automate deposits and use high-yield accounts to hit any goal sooner.
Guide · SavingsHow to size and build the cash buffer that protects every other plan.
Guide · InvestingWhy even safe savings grow faster the longer you leave them alone.
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