How does the savings goal calculator work?

You enter your target amount, target date, and expected annual return on your savings. The calculator uses the recurring deposit formula to find the exact monthly savings needed, then shows you a milestone timeline of how your corpus grows month by month.

What return rate should I use for savings goal planning?

The default is 6% per year, which is conservative and matches current FD and RD rates. If you plan to park savings in a liquid mutual fund, you may use 7 to 8%. Avoid using equity return rates for short to medium term goals since markets can be volatile over 1 to 5 year periods.

Can I plan multiple savings goals at once?

Yes. After calculating your first goal you can add up to two more goals. Each goal is calculated independently with its own target amount, date and return rate. The dashboard then shows the total monthly savings needed to hit all your goals combined.

What is the Squeeze Meter?

The Squeeze Meter shows what percentage of your monthly take-home salary this goal requires. Under 20% is green and comfortable. 20 to 35% is yellow and tight but manageable. Above 35% is red and the calculator suggests extending your timeline to reduce the monthly burden.

What happens if I save more than the required amount each month?

The Goal Accelerator slider lets you explore exactly that. Drag the slider to add extra monthly savings and instantly see how many months earlier you will reach your goal. Even small additions make a meaningful difference when compounding is involved.

Savings Goal Calculator

What are you saving for?

Goal name

Target amount

₹

Target month

Target year

Expected return on savings (FD/RD rate)

% per year

Monthly take-home salary optional — unlocks Squeeze Meter

₹

per month

Target date

You will deposit

Interest earned

Goal amount

Your savings journey

Goal Accelerator

Drag to see how saving more each month changes your deadline

Saving extra per month

+₹0

Without extra saving

per month

With extra saving

per month

Goal 2

What are you saving for?

Goal name

Target amount

₹

Target month

Target year

Expected return on savings (FD/RD rate)

% per year

Goal 3

What are you saving for?

Goal name

Target amount

₹

Target month

Target year

Expected return on savings (FD/RD rate)

% per year

Learn

The gap between wanting something and having a plan for it

Most people have goals. Buy a car in two years. Clear the house down payment by 35. Take a proper vacation once things settle down. But there is a difference between a goal that lives in your head and one that has a number and a date attached to it. This calculator is about turning the first kind into the second.

Why a target date works better than "number of months"

When you say "I want to save for 18 months," it is an abstract exercise. When you say "I want this by October 2026," it is suddenly real. You can picture it. You know what season it is. You can count backward to now and see how much runway you have.

This calculator counts months from today to your chosen month and year, always rounding up. If you are in the middle of April and your target is May 2026, that counts as 1 full month. You will never get a result that undercounts your time and forces an impossible savings rate.

Why we default to 6% and not 12%

Savings goals are typically short to medium term. A car in 2 years, a vacation in 8 months. Equity markets are volatile over short periods. You could be down 20% right when you need the money. For money you actually need by a specific date, conservative instruments like FDs, RDs, or liquid mutual funds are more appropriate.

The current SBI FD rate for 1 to 3 year deposits sits around 6.8%. HDFC and Axis are slightly higher. 6% is a floor estimate. If your savings go into a recurring deposit, you can safely use 6 to 7%. If you use a liquid or short-duration mutual fund, 7 to 8% is reasonable. The calculator lets you adjust this.

A simple rule: If you cannot afford to see your savings drop in value before the goal date, do not use equity. Use an FD, RD, or liquid fund. The slightly lower return is the cost of certainty, and for specific goals with specific deadlines, certainty is worth paying for.

How the monthly savings amount is calculated

This calculator uses the standard recurring deposit formula. You save a fixed amount each month. That amount earns interest every month on the growing balance. By the end of the tenure, the total of your deposits plus the compounded interest equals your target.

The formula is: Monthly savings = Target amount multiplied by the monthly rate, divided by the quantity (1 plus the monthly rate) raised to the power of total months, minus 1. In practice this means that the longer your timeline, the smaller your monthly burden, and the more of your target amount comes from interest rather than your own deposits.

What the Squeeze Meter is telling you

When you enter your monthly take-home salary, the calculator shows what percentage of your income this goal will consume. Under 20% is comfortable. Most households can absorb a savings commitment of that size without major lifestyle changes.

Between 20% and 35%, the goal is achievable but it will require discipline. You will feel it in your monthly budget. Small unplanned expenses can put you off track. It is worth building a small buffer.

Above 35% means the required monthly savings is genuinely high relative to your income. This does not mean the goal is impossible. It means the timeline is too short, the target is too large, or both. Extending the deadline by 6 to 12 months often brings the number into a manageable range, and the calculator shows you exactly what that looks like.

Running multiple goals at the same time

Most people are not saving for just one thing. There is the car and the vacation and the emergency fund, all competing for the same salary. When you add multiple goals here, each one is calculated independently. The timelines can be different, the return rates can be different, and changing one does not affect another.

What the combined summary bar does is simply add up the monthly savings needed across all your active goals. That total is the honest number you need to set aside every month if you want all of these goals to happen on the dates you have chosen.

The honest question to ask yourself: Is the combined monthly number something you can actually set aside without disrupting your life? If not, the answer is not to give up on a goal. It is to push the timeline out on the least urgent one. A longer runway means smaller monthly deposits and more of the work done by interest.

What the Goal Accelerator shows

Once you see your required monthly savings, you might wonder what would happen if you put in a little more. The accelerator slider lets you add extra savings on top of the required amount and instantly see how many months earlier you will reach your goal.

This feature is not about pushing you to save more. It is about giving you a concrete trade-off to think about. An extra 2,000 rupees per month might mean reaching your goal 3 months earlier. Whether that trade-off is worth it depends entirely on your situation. The calculator just makes the choice visible.