College · College Success · Money

$150 a month.
How long
to $3,000?

Type the goal, what you have and what you can put away each month. The calculator runs the account forward month by month and tells you when you get there, or what it takes to get there sooner.

Run my goalWhat you get

The savings goal calculator

The worked example saves for a laptop and textbooks. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

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What you get

College · College SuccessFree

What you finish with
The months to reach the goal, the deposits and interest that get you there, the monthly deposit a deadline needs and a year-by-year table. It prints as a summary and downloads as a spreadsheet.
Who it is for
Students saving for a laptop, a deposit, a semester’s books or an emergency fund, and families teaching saving at home.
Format
Browser calculator for a phone, tablet or computer, by touch or keyboard. Prints a summary; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file.
Access
Free. No account, no sign-in and nothing to install. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The College Success space in Caveat College.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Type the goal and what you have saved.
  2. Type a deposit you can keep up every month.
  3. Find the APY on the account’s rate sheet.
  4. Add a deadline to see the deposit it needs.
  5. Set the deposit to move automatically on payday.

Run my goal

How the months are counted

The same arithmetic a bank uses, one month at a time.

The worked example: $3,000 for a laptop and textbooksStart$400saved alreadyEach month× 1.003274% APY, monthlythen + $150depositend of the monthGoal passedmonth 17$3,041 in the accountThe worked example: $3,000 for a laptop and textbooksStart$400saved alreadyEach month× 1.003274% APY, monthlythen + $150depositend of the monthGoal passedmonth 17$3,041 in the account
Grow, then deposit, month after month until the balance passes the goal.

From APY to a month

APY is the yearly growth with compounding included, so the monthly rate is the twelfth root of 1 + APY, less 1. At 4% APY that is about 0.327% a month. Each month the balance grows by that rate, then the deposit lands. The count stops the first month the balance passes the goal.

The deadline deposit

For a fixed number of months the future balance is the starting amount grown for every month plus the deposits, each grown for the months it sits. Solving for the deposit gives what the deadline needs. With no interest it is simply the gap divided by the months.

Sources

  1. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Regulation DD (Truth in Savings), 12 CFR 1030, Appendix A: Annual percentage yield calculation (consumerfinance.gov).
  2. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Your insured deposits: $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, per ownership category (fdic.gov).
  3. National Credit Union Administration. Share insurance coverage (mycreditunion.gov).
  4. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Building savings: tools and tips for young adults (consumerfinance.gov).

The worked example’s goal, deposit and rate are examples, not any bank’s offer. Your entries stay in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.