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How long will it take to save for it?
Two questions, one sum. Say what you can put aside and see when you get there, or say when you want it and see what that costs a month.
Try it with your own numbers
The last month is usually a part month. It is rounded up here, because a part month is still a month you are waiting.
These tools do arithmetic on the numbers you type and nothing else. They are here to help you work something out, not to tell you what to do, and what is right varies from one person to the next.
Saving Diary is a personal record keeping app. What it suggests is general guidance, not personal financial advice, and it does not replace a licensed financial adviser.
Saving for something is division.
Take what the thing costs, take off whatever you have already put towards it, and you have the amount that is actually still ahead of you. Divide that by what you can manage each month and you have a date. Divide it by the months you have instead and you have a monthly figure. Both directions are below, because people arrive at this with either one already decided.
How the number is worked out.
Plain division, both ways round. Nothing here assumes interest, a return, or anything happening to the money while it sits there.
- Start with the full amount the thing costs.
- Take off whatever you have already put towards it. What is left is the amount actually still ahead of you.
- If you know what you can save each month, divide the remainder by it. That is how many months, rounded up.
- If you know when you want it instead, divide the remainder by the number of months you have. That is what it costs each month.
A worked example.
The same numbers this page starts with, run through the same steps.
What went in
- What you are saving for
- 2,400
- Already put towards it
- 400
- You can save each month
- 200
What comes out
- Left to save
- 2,000
- Months to get there
- 10
Every figure here is calculated by the same code the calculator above runs, so the example and the tool can never disagree.
The date is the easy part.
Knowing the month is not what gets you there. Putting something towards it when you have it, and being able to see how much of it is behind you, is what does.
FAQ
Good to know.
How much do I need to save each month?
Whatever is still ahead of you, divided by the number of months you have. If the goal is 2,400 and you have already put aside 400, that is 2,000 across however many months, so twelve months makes it about 167 a month.
Does this account for interest?
No, and that is on purpose. This is division, not a projection. Saving Diary does not model returns or tell you what money might be worth later, because that would be a guess about your future presented as a fact.
What if I cannot save the same amount every month?
Most people cannot. Treat the monthly figure as an average rather than a schedule. A savings goal in the app has no schedule at all: you add to it when you have something to add, and nothing breaks if you skip a month.
Other tools
A calculator answers once. An app answers every month.
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