Why does it say the goal is never reached?

With no contribution and no growth, a balance below the goal stays below the goal. Saying never is more useful than showing a hundred year answer that looks like a plan.

What rate should I use for an emergency fund?

Whatever a high interest savings account is paying, and no more. Money you may need next month should not be somewhere its value can fall, whatever the projection would look like.

Savings Goal Calculator

Two questions: how long at this rate, and how much a month to hit the date.

At this rate, you get there in

2 years 11 months

Saving $600.00 a month from $3,000, earning 4%.

Still to find

$22,000

To hit it in 3 years

$566.19

Per month

Difference

$33.81

Less than you are saving now

Where you land in 3 years

Goal$25,000
On track for$26,291

$1,291 clear of the goal. You could save $33.81 a month less and still make it.

What the interest is doing

Your deposits$24,600
Interest earned$1,691

Interest is 6% of the balance at this point. Over a short horizon a savings goal is almost entirely what you put in, which is why the monthly amount matters far more than the rate.

What this does

A goal is usually blocked by one of two unknowns: when you get there, or what it takes each month. This answers both from the same inputs, so you can move between them and find the version you can actually live with.

Why this one

It answers both directions of the same question on one screen. Most goal calculators do one and make you guess your way to the other by changing a number and pressing the button again.

The formula

how long:  run the balance forward a month at a time until it reaches the goal
how much:  shortfall / (((1 + rate) ^ periods - 1) / rate)
where shortfall is the goal less what the opening balance grows into by itself

Published so you can check it. A calculator about money that will not show its working is asking to be trusted on the one thing you cannot verify.

Questions

Why does it say the goal is never reached?: With no contribution and no growth, a balance below the goal stays below the goal. Saying never is more useful than showing a hundred year answer that looks like a plan.
What rate should I use for an emergency fund?: Whatever a high interest savings account is paying, and no more. Money you may need next month should not be somewhere its value can fall, whatever the projection would look like.

Your data

Everything here runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere, nothing is saved, and there is no account. Close the tab and it is gone.

We count that this calculator was used, and that is the whole of it. No figure you enter and no answer you get leaves the page. See the privacy policy.

Take it with you

The same calculator as a file you keep. Unzip it, open index.html, and it works with no internet connection at all. Free, and yours to pass on.

Download, 12 KB

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All eight

This tool is for education and planning only and does not constitute financial, legal or tax advice. EmpireSheets is not a regulated adviser. Rates, rules and thresholds change, so check anything time sensitive against a current official source before acting on it.