Savings goal calculator

Q: Why is the finish date always a whole month?

Because a part month is not a real answer. The term is rounded up to the next whole month, and the final contribution is trimmed so the balance lands exactly on the goal rather than overshooting it. That is the same rule the app uses.

What do you want to work out?

My monthly amount My finish date

I have a target and a date — what do I put aside each month?

Your numbers

Goal amount The total you want to have saved.

Already saved What is in the pot today. Enter 0 if you're starting from scratch.

Target date When you want to reach the goal. Only the month matters for the maths — the day is ignored.

Annual interest rate Optional. The rate your savings account pays, as a percentage. Leave at 0 to ignore interest.

Currency Formatting only. It doesn't convert anything.

Every number you type stays in this page. There's no server call, no cookie and no analytics script — load the page once, turn your connection off, and it still works.

This calculator needs JavaScript. It runs entirely in your browser — there's no server doing the sums — so with scripts off there's nothing to do the arithmetic. The formulas are written out further down the page if you'd rather work it through yourself.

Month by month

How the balance grows, one month at a time.

Month-by-month savings balance
Month	Date	Paid in	Interest	Balance

Not financial advice. CroSum is a tracking and budgeting tool, not a regulated financial adviser. Everything above is arithmetic on the numbers you entered — it isn't personalised financial advice, and it can't know about your tax position, your emergency fund or what your bank's rate will do next year. For decisions that matter, talk to someone qualified.

The maths

No black box.

This is the same arithmetic CroSum runs on your phone, written out.

Without interest

The simple case, and the one the app itself uses. Money accumulates in a straight line towards the target:

monthly = (goal − already saved) ÷ months

months = ⌈ (goal − already saved) ÷ monthly ⌉

The term rounds up to a whole month, because a part month isn't a real answer. The last contribution is then trimmed so the balance lands exactly on the goal instead of overshooting it — which is why the final row in the table is usually a smaller amount.

With an interest rate

Add a rate and each month earns interest on the opening balance before that month's contribution goes in. The monthly rate is the annual rate divided by twelve, and the balance follows the standard future-value formula:

balance = start × (1 + i)ⁿ + monthly × ((1 + i)ⁿ − 1) ÷ i

Rearranged one way it gives the monthly amount you need; rearranged the other way it gives the number of months. Both directions are in the calculator above.

What it deliberately doesn't do

It assumes the same amount every month. Real life has months where you skip.
It assumes the interest rate holds for the whole term. Variable rates don't.
It ignores tax on interest, which varies by country and by person.
It compounds monthly. Your bank may compound daily or pay annually, so treat the interest column as an estimate rather than a promise.

If a plan looks tight here, it will look tighter once a real month happens to you. Build in room.

A calculator answers once. A goal needs watching.

The number above is only true on the day you work it out. Then you skip a month, or raid the pot for a car repair, and the plan quietly stops matching reality.

CroSum tracks savings goals against the rest of your money. It shows the balance, the contribution that's actually due and the projected finish date, and it checks whether that contribution still fits alongside your budgets and loan payments. Withdrawals are handled properly, so a raided holiday fund doesn't silently break the projection.

Your figures stay on the phone. There's no bank login, because there's no bank connection — you enter what you earn and spend, and nothing about it is uploaded to us.

One savings goal is free. Premium removes the limit and adds the twelve-month planner.

Get CroSum Back to the home page

A savings goal in CroSum showing progress towards the target and the required monthly contribution.

Questions

About this calculator.

Do my numbers get sent anywhere?

No. The calculator is a few dozen lines of JavaScript running in this page. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is stored, and there's no analytics script watching you type. Load the page once, switch your connection off, and it still works.

Does CroSum apply interest to savings goals in the app?

No. Savings goals in the app are modelled without interest — the balance grows by what you actually put in. For most goal pots the interest over a year or two is small next to the plan itself, and leaving it out keeps the target honest. The interest field on this page is here so you can see the difference for yourself.

Why is the finish date always a whole month?

Because a part month isn't a real answer. The term rounds up to the next whole month, and the final contribution is trimmed so the balance lands exactly on the goal rather than overshooting it. That's the same rule the app uses.

What happens if I miss a month?

The finish date moves. This page assumes a perfect run of identical contributions; the app doesn't, because it works from what you actually paid in and recalculates the projection each time. That gap between plan and reality is the whole reason for tracking it rather than calculating it once.

Can I save more than one goal in the app?

One savings goal and one loan are free, along with unlimited transactions, categories and budgets, Safe to Spend, the widget, reminders and manual backup, restore and CSV export. Premium removes the loan and goal limits and adds the twelve-month planner, the recommendations engine, full monthly PDF reports, and automatic sync to your own Google Drive on Android or iCloud on iPhone. It's €3.99 a month or €35.99 a year, with a 14-day free trial.

Is this financial advice?

No. CroSum is a tracking and budgeting tool, not a regulated financial adviser. Everything here is arithmetic on the numbers you typed in, not personalised financial advice. For decisions that matter, talk to someone qualified.