Tools
Budget & Savings Calculator
Start with your income and expenses, and see what’s left each month — no budgeting experience needed.
Your Monthly Budget
See what is left after expenses. Each section below has separate inputs; your numbers do not transfer automatically. Explore them separately, or split your actual leftover amount between goals. Monthly emergency savings, goal savings, investing and extra debt payments must fit within that total.
Paid weekly or every two weeks?
Where your take-home pay goes
Your month
50/30/20 reference
Bills are close to “needs”. Everyday spending is usually a mix of needs and wants, so compare the rows loosely.
Want a simple reference point? The 50/30/20 split
One common starting point splits take-home pay into 50% needs, 30% wants and 20% saving or paying off debt. It’s a reference point, not a rule. Higher-cost cities and different life circumstances can make these percentages unrealistic, so treat a miss as information rather than failure.
Build Your Emergency Fund
An emergency fund is cash set aside for the things that go wrong — a car repair, a medical bill, a gap between jobs. Common guidance is three to six months of essential expenses, kept somewhere you can reach quickly. This works out where you stand.
Your progress
How Long Until I Reach My Goal?
Pick something you’re saving for, put in what you can set aside each month, and see roughly how long it takes at that pace.
Have a deadline instead?
Enter when you want to reach your goal and see how much to save each month. It uses your goal and savings above, plus any return you set under “Advanced: include investment growth” below.
Your path to the goal
Advanced: include investment growth
Leave this at 0% for a simple savings plan. You can test a steady annual rate for interest or investment growth; rates and returns can change. This timeline supports zero or positive rates only.
Pay Off Debt
See roughly how long it takes to clear a balance at the payment you plan to make, how much interest that costs, and what an extra monthly payment could change. If your regular payment is already inside the bills in your monthly budget, it is already accounted for; only an extra payment needs to come out of the money left over.
Your balance, month by month
Using your numbers above. Tap or hover on the chart to see any month.
Where your payments go
Have more than one debt?
This calculator works on one balance at a time. For several credit cards or loans, run each one separately with its own rate and payment; that shows which one costs you the most in interest. Adding the balances together only gives a rough picture, because each debt has its own rate. Fixed payments like a mortgage or car loan are usually easiest to keep in your bills in Calculator 1.
Pay down debt or save first?
There is no single right answer, but comparing rates helps. Credit card interest is often far higher than what a savings account pays, so many people put extra money toward high-interest balances first, while keeping a small emergency cushion so a surprise bill does not go straight back on the card. Investor.gov makes the same point: few investments reliably pay off as well as getting rid of high-interest debt.
How this estimate works
The APR is divided by 12 and interest is added once a month, then your payment is taken off at the end of the month. The last payment covers only what is left. It assumes the rate stays the same, no new charges or fees, and no missed payments. Your lender may calculate interest daily, use different payment dates, or change the rate, so treat the result as an estimate, not a promise.
Understand Investment Gains & Losses
A percentage can be hard to picture. This turns a percentage into dollars for a single amount, over one year or several. It is a separate illustration, not another share of your monthly budget.
This simple version leaves out fees and taxes, and assumes no borrowing, so the most you can lose is the amount invested (−100%).
Grow Investments Over Time
See how your money could grow if you add a little every month, and what happens when you put your dividends back in. New to percentages? Start with the gains and losses calculator above.
How it grows, year by year
Using your numbers above. Tap or hover on the chart to see any year.
What if the price growth is different?
See it year by year
| Year | Put in | Growth | Total |
|---|
What happens if you reinvest your dividends instead of receiving them as cash?
If you reinvest your dividends
| Money you put in | $0 |
|---|---|
| Investment balance | $0 |
| Dividends received as cashReinvested, so they are already inside the balance | $0 |
| Total | $0 |
If you take your dividends as cash
| Money you put in | $0 |
|---|---|
| Investment balance | $0 |
| Dividends received as cash | $0 |
| Total | $0 |
With reinvesting, dividends buy more investments. With cash payments, dividends pile up separately. This comparison assumes that cash is saved, not spent, and earns no interest.
How this estimate works
The calculator works one month at a time. First the price moves by a small monthly step; twelve of those steps add up to the yearly price growth you entered. Next, one month’s dividend (one-twelfth of the yearly percentage) is paid. Last, your monthly money is added. Dividends received as cash are set aside: they are not spent and do not earn anything. Keep price growth and dividends in their own boxes, so don’t put a number that already includes dividends into the price box. Real prices and dividends go up and down unevenly, and this leaves out taxes, fees and inflation.
⚠️ Educational Use Only
These calculators are for educational purposes only and are not financial advice. Results are estimates: they ignore tax, inflation, fees and any change in your circumstances, and any growth, loss, dividend or interest rate you enter is an assumption, not a forecast. Consider speaking with a qualified professional about your own situation.