Savings Goal Calculator
Pick a target and a deadline — we'll tell you the exact monthly amount to put away, counting the interest your savings earn along the way.
How the math works
Your current savings grow on their own at the interest rate you set. The gap that remains is covered by equal monthly deposits, each earning interest from the month it's made (an ordinary annuity). The calculator solves for the deposit that lands you exactly on target: goal = current × growth + deposit × annuity factor.
Common savings goals and sensible timelines
| Goal | Typical target | Where to keep it |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency fund | 3–6 months of expenses | High-interest savings account |
| House down payment | 5–20% of home price | HISA / GIC / government-registered plans |
| Car (paying cash) | Purchase price + tax | HISA or short-term GIC |
| Tuition year | Tuition + living costs | Registered education plans where available |
Making it stick
Automate the transfer on payday — savings that leave your checking account before you see them don't get spent. If the monthly number looks impossible, extend the timeline or split the goal: the weekly equivalent shown above often feels far more doable.
When the monthly number looks impossible
The most common reaction to this calculator is that the required amount is out of reach. That's useful information, not a dead end — and there are only four levers, all of which are worth examining honestly before abandoning the goal.
- Extend the deadline. The most powerful and least painful lever. Stretching a three-year goal to four cuts the monthly requirement by roughly a quarter.
- Reduce the target. Often the goal was a round number rather than a researched one. A $25,000 down payment target might really need to be $18,000 for the property you'd actually buy.
- Add lump sums. Tax refunds, bonuses, and the two "extra" cheques a year on a bi-weekly pay cycle. These accelerate goals dramatically because they weren't in your monthly budget to begin with.
- Raise the rate. The weakest lever over short horizons — moving from 1% to 4% barely moves a two-year goal — but free money if your savings are sitting in a chequing account earning nothing.
What doesn't work is setting an impossible number and relying on willpower. A plan you abandon in month three saves less than a modest plan you keep for three years.
Sinking funds: the goals people forget to plan for
Most budget failures aren't caused by unexpected costs — they're caused by predictable costs that nobody set money aside for. Annual insurance, car maintenance, holiday spending, back-to-school, property tax instalments. Each arrives on a known schedule and each blows up a monthly budget when it lands.
The fix is a sinking fund: divide the annual cost by twelve and save that amount monthly.
| Predictable expense | Typical annual cost | Monthly set-aside |
|---|---|---|
| Car maintenance & tyres | $1,200 | $100 |
| Annual insurance premiums | $1,800 | $150 |
| Holiday & gifts | $1,000 | $83 |
| Home maintenance | $2,400 | $200 |
Keep these separate from your emergency fund. Mixing them means the emergency fund is permanently drained by things that were never emergencies — which is the single most common reason people believe they "can't" build one.
Choosing where to keep goal money
Match the account to the timeline, not to the highest advertised rate:
- Under 1 year — high-interest savings account. Full liquidity matters more than yield.
- 1–3 years — high-interest savings, or a GIC/CD timed to mature when you need the money.
- 3–5 years — mostly cash-like, perhaps with a modest conservative allocation. A market drop this close to the deadline is difficult to recover from.
- 5+ years — now investing genuinely makes sense; see our compound interest guide.
Wherever it goes, keep goal money in a separate account from daily spending. Money that shares an account with your groceries gets spent on groceries.