Savings Goal Calculator
What each goal will cost, what to save for it, and one combined monthly plan.
Goal by goal
Your combined plan
How this was calculated
Results are estimates for general information and planning, not financial advice. Banks and institutions may calculate differently (rounding, fees, rate changes). Confirm figures with your lender or a qualified adviser before deciding.
About the Savings Goal Calculator
A goal ten years away costs more than it does today. This calculator takes each of your goals — a child’s education, a wedding, a house down payment, a car, a holiday — with what it costs today and when you need it, inflates the cost to that date, credits what you have already set aside, and works out the monthly or yearly saving that gets you there at your expected return. Or turn it round: enter what you can save a month and see how long each goal will take.
Up to eight goals are added into one combined plan that shows how your total saving falls as each goal is paid for. Every result comes with the formula and your numbers, and nothing you type leaves your browser.
How to use it
- Choose Saving needed (what to save) or Time to reach (how long at a given saving), and whether you save every month or every year.
- Enter the return you expect on your savings, and a yearly increase if you plan to raise them as your income grows.
- For each goal enter what it costs today, the years until you need it, how fast its cost rises and anything already saved for it. Add goals with the buttons, or remove them.
- Read the combined saving, the table goal by goal and the plan year by year. Pick a goal under “How this was calculated” to see its working, then copy the summary or download the table as CSV.
Examples
Cost rises 8% a year · ₹2 lakh already saved · 12% expected return · saving monthly
Cost then ₹43,17,850 · the ₹2 lakh grows to ₹6,21,170 · save ₹16,500 a month
Saving yearly instead: ₹1,88,082 at the start of each year. With a 10% yearly step-up the first year’s saving falls to ₹11,309 a month.
Cost then ₹9,26,100 · save ₹18,236 a month · together with the education goal ₹34,737 a month for years 1–3, then ₹16,500
Reached in 4 years, when it costs ₹9,72,405
The formulas
The cost at the goal date is cost today × (1 + inflation)^years. Money already saved grows to saved × (1 + r)^years. The rest — the gap — is met by saving at the start of every month, so it grows like an annuity due: FV = P × [((1 + i)^n − 1) ÷ i] × (1 + i), where i = (1 + r)^(1/12) − 1 is the monthly rate equivalent to the annual return r, and n is the number of months. The saving needed is therefore P = gap ÷ [((1 + i)^n − 1) ÷ i × (1 + i)]. For yearly saving the same formula uses r and the number of years. With a yearly step-up, each year’s saving is (1 + g) times the year before, and the factor is added up month by month.
Time to reach runs the same arithmetic month by month — the balance grows with each saving and the return, the cost grows with inflation — until the balance catches up with the cost. These are the standard time-value-of-money formulas (CFA Institute curriculum) and the conventions of our SIP calculator.
Choosing the numbers
Use the inflation that fits each goal rather than one figure for all: look up what the fees or the price were a few years ago and work out how fast they rose, for example with the CAGR calculator. Be modest with the return for goals that are only a few years away — money you will need soon is usually kept in steadier investments such as deposits, which vary less but usually earn less. Try a few combinations: the saving needed is sensitive to both.
Limitations
- Returns and inflation are steady assumptions. Real returns vary year to year, and an equity fall just before a goal can leave a shortfall.
- Taxes on the returns are not deducted. Use an after-tax return if your savings are taxed as they grow.
- Years are whole years; savings are made at the start of each month or year until the goal date, and nothing is withdrawn early.
- Each goal is funded separately — money saved for one goal is not moved to another when it is reached.
Privacy
Everything happens in your browser. What you enter or open here is not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I save every month for my goal?
Enough that your savings, with their returns, match the goal’s cost on the day you need it. For ₹20 lakh of education in 10 years at 8% inflation and a 12% return, with ₹2 lakh already saved, that is ₹16,500 a month. Enter your own goal to get your figure.
Why does the calculator increase the cost of my goal?
Because prices rise. At 8% a year a cost doubles in about nine years, so ₹20 lakh of fees today become about ₹43 lakh in ten years. Saving for today’s cost would leave you short.
Should I save monthly or yearly?
Monthly saving usually suits a salary and starts earning returns sooner. A yearly lump sum at the start of each year needs slightly less in total, because each payment is invested for longer — the calculator shows both.
What return should I assume?
What does the yearly increase do?
It raises your saving by that percentage every 12 months, as your income grows. You start lower and pay more later; with a 10% yearly increase the education goal above starts at ₹11,309 a month instead of ₹16,500.