How much do I need to save each month?
Enter what you are saving for, what you have already put away, and the date you need it by. Free, no account, and nothing you type leaves your browser.
The calculator
Per month
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Enter what you are saving for and the date you need it by.
About this calculation
How the calculation works
What you have saved comes off the target, and the remainder is spread over the time until your date. Time is counted in days and converted, not in whole calendar months: a target 45 days out is a month and a half of saving, and calling it one month would understate what it takes by a third — on the one calculator where being short means missing the date.
Per paycheck, not just per month
A monthly figure is hard to act on if you are paid fortnightly. Tell it how many times a month you are paid and it splits the figure that way, so the amount is one you can move on payday rather than one you have to divide again.
Why saving first is the part that works
A goal funded by whatever survives to the end of the month tends not to get funded, because spending expands to fill whatever is in the account. Moving the amount at the top of the month, alongside the bills, is what turns a target into a habit.
What this does not account for
No interest, no investment growth, and no contribution you are already making automatically. It is the plain division: what is left to save, over the time you have. Anything your money earns on the way is a bonus this page does not count.
This calculator is a budgeting tool, not financial advice. It describes the numbers you entered and nothing else — no figure it shows is a recommendation about what you should spend.
Wondering whether the monthly figure fits? Check it against your month with How much can I spend?.
Other calculators
- How much can I spend?Work out what is left for flexible spending each month once your bills, savings, debt payments and investments are accounted for.
- Daily spending limitTake what is left of this month's flexible spending, divide it by the days you have left, and see what that is a day.
- Can I afford it?Check one purchase against the money you have left this month, and see what it leaves for the days that follow.
- Salary budgetTurn a salary at any pay frequency into a monthly take-home figure, split into essentials, saving and flexible spending.
Turning the figure into something that happens
PAY/ATTN has goals built in: a target balance on a real account and a date to hit it by, with the monthly number it takes, what you have actually committed, and the gap between the two. The contribution is decided at the top of the month, next to the bills.