Savings & Investing Calculators
Interest, compounding, yields, CDs, bonds, dividends and investment returns.
Calculators
- Simple Interest Calculator
Interest on a principal at a flat rate, with the total and a year-by-year view.
- Compound Interest Calculator
Growth with regular contributions, contribution timing and any compounding frequency.
- Savings Goal Calculator
Find the monthly amount needed to reach a goal, or how long your current saving will take.
- ROI Calculator
Net return on investment and annualized return from a start value, end value and dates.
- APY Calculator
Convert a nominal rate to annual percentage yield for any compounding frequency, and back.
- CD Calculator
Certificate of deposit value at maturity, with an optional early-withdrawal penalty.
- Dividend Reinvestment Calculator
Dividend income and reinvestment growth with yield, price growth and tax assumptions.
- Dollar-Cost Averaging Calculator
Purchase ledger with average cost basis and return at a valuation price you enter.
- CAGR Calculator
Compound annual growth rate between two positive values over a period.
- Bond Price and Yield Calculator
Price, current yield and yield to maturity for a plain fixed-coupon bond.
Picking a savings or investing calculator
Most questions here are one of three: how money grows, how to compare rates, or how an investment actually performed.
- How much will my savings grow?
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Growth with regular deposits at any compounding frequency, split into what you paid in and what it earned.
- Is interest paid on the original amount only?
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Flat interest on the principal, as on some notes and short-term loans, with the total at the end. Loans repaid in monthly installments usually charge interest on the remaining balance instead.
- How much should I save each month to reach a goal?
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The deposit that reaches a target in a set time, or how long a fixed deposit takes to get there.
- Which account pays more?
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Puts nominal rates on the same annual footing (APY), and shows a certificate’s value at maturity and the cost of withdrawing early.
- How did my investment really do?
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ROI Calculator CAGR Calculator Dollar-Cost Averaging Calculator
Total and annualized return, the steady yearly rate between two values, and average cost and money-weighted return for purchases made over time.
- What will a bond or a dividend stock pay?
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Bond Price and Yield Calculator Dividend Reinvestment Calculator
Price and yield to maturity for a bond; income and growth from dividends, reinvested or taken as cash.
Have these to hand
- The rate exactly as quoted, and whether it is an APY or a nominal rate with a compounding frequency.
- Start and end dates, and every deposit or withdrawal in between.
- Fees paid and dividends received, for return calculations.
Mistakes that change the answer
- Mixing APY and nominal rates. A 5% nominal rate compounded monthly is an APY of about 5.12%.
- Annualizing a return earned over a few months, which can turn a modest gain into an implausible yearly rate.
- Reading a projection as a forecast. Every growth rate here is an assumption you enter.
Related guides
- APR vs. APY vs. interest rate: which number to compare
Which rate to compare when you borrow and when you save, what each one includes, and how to convert between them, with worked numbers you can rerun.
- Nominal vs. real returns: adjusting savings for inflation
How to turn a nominal return into a real one, when subtracting inflation goes wrong, and how to show a 30-year savings projection in today’s dollars.
- Dividend yield vs. total return: what’s the difference?
Dividend yield compares a payout with today’s price; total return is what you actually earned. Worked examples show a stock yielding 7% losing 8% in a year, what a dividend cut does next, and why taxes make the source of a return matter.
- How investment fees compound: 0.1% vs. 1% over 30 years
What a yearly percentage fee takes from a long-term balance, why most of the damage lands in the last decade, and how to compare fund, advisory and flat account fees.
- How loan amortization works, with a worked schedule
The payment formula, how each payment splits between interest and principal, why the last payment is off by a few cents, when principal overtakes interest on a long loan, and what extra payments and negative amortization do to the schedule.
- Common percentage mistakes and how to avoid them
Six percentage slips that produce confident wrong answers, from percentage points to negative starting values, each worked with example numbers you can check.