What is future value?
Future value is what your money will be worth on a set date, once interest has done its work. That covers what you have today plus whatever you keep adding. $10,000 in an account, plus $200 every month, at 6% a year, becomes $50,969.84 after 10 years. You put in $34,000 of that. Interest supplied the other $16,969.84.
The idea comes from the time value of money. A dollar today is worth more than a dollar ten years from now, because today's dollar can earn interest in the meantime. Future value runs that math forward. Its twin, present value, runs it backward.
You need this number more often than you'd think. Checking whether $300 a month into a retirement account is enough. Seeing what a college fund reaches by the time a kid turns 18. Answering a finance homework problem that says "annuity due." Figuring out why a spreadsheet returned a negative number.
Most calculators that answer this question live inside a retirement planner that wants your email first, or an investing app that wants an account before it shows a single projection. The Future Value Calculator on this page skips all of that. Type four numbers, read the answer, and go.
How to use the Future Value Calculator
The defaults are already filled in, so a result is showing before you touch anything. Change whatever is different about your plan.
- Type your starting amount. Use 0 if you're starting from nothing. Commas and a dollar sign are fine, so $10,000 works.
- Type how much you'll add each period, then pick the frequency: yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, or daily. The same setting decides how often interest compounds.
- Enter the annual rate as a percent (6, not 0.06) and the number of years. Decimals work for both.
- Leave Deposits made on End of period, unless the money goes in on day one of each period.
- Read the future value and the breakdown under it: You started with, You deposited, and Interest earned.
Below the result you get three extras. First, the formula with your numbers filled in, so you can check the math by hand. Second, a spreadsheet formula like =FV(6%/12, 120, -200, -10000, 0) with a Copy formula button. Third, a Show by year table with deposits, interest, and balance at the end of each year. Everything updates as you type. There's no Calculate button, and your numbers never leave your browser.
The future value formula
The future value formula with regular deposits is two pieces added together. One piece grows the starting amount. The other grows the stream of deposits, which finance textbooks call the future value of an annuity.
FV = PV × (1 + i)n + PMT × ((1 + i)n − 1) ÷ i
- PV is the starting amount, also called present value
- PMT is the deposit you make each period
- i is the rate per period: the annual rate as a decimal, divided by periods per year
- n is the number of periods: years × periods per year
If the rate is 0, there's nothing to compound and the formula collapses to FV = PV + PMT × n. $1,000 plus $100 a month at 0% for 5 years is exactly $7,000.00.
A worked example
Take the defaults: $10,000 to start, $200 a month, 6% a year, 10 years, monthly. The rate per period is 0.06 ÷ 12 = 0.005. The number of periods is 10 × 12 = 120.
The growth factor is 1.005120 ≈ 1.8193967. The starting amount grows to 10,000 × 1.8193967 = $18,193.97. The deposits grow to 200 × (1.8193967 − 1) ÷ 0.005 = $32,775.87. Add the two halves and you get $50,969.84.
Deposits at the start of the period
If each deposit goes in at the start of a period, it earns one extra period of interest. Finance calls that an annuity due, and the fix is one multiplication: take the deposit half and multiply it by (1 + i). In the example, $32,775.87 × 1.005 = $32,939.75, so the total becomes $51,133.72. Flip Deposits made to Start of period in the Future Value Calculator and you'll see the same number.
The same math in a spreadsheet
Excel and Google Sheets share the FV function: =FV(rate, nper, pmt, pv, type). Rate is per period. Nper is the number of periods. Type is 0 for end of period and 1 for start. The part that trips everyone up is the signs. Spreadsheets treat money you pay in as negative, so the deposit and the starting amount take a minus: =FV(6%/12, 120, -200, -10000, 0) returns 50969.84. Type them as positives and you get −50969.84. The calculator writes the formula for your exact inputs, so you never have to remember the argument order again.
What regular deposits grow to
This table shows $300 a month, deposited at the end of each month, with nothing to start. Your own deposits total $36,000 at 10 years, $72,000 at 20, and $108,000 at 30.
| Years | 4% a year | 6% a year | 8% a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | $44,174.94 | $49,163.80 | $54,883.81 |
| 20 | $110,032.39 | $138,612.27 | $176,706.12 |
| 30 | $208,214.82 | $301,354.51 | $447,107.83 |
Read the bottom-right cell. At 8%, $108,000 of deposits becomes $447,107.83, and $339,107.83 of that is interest. Your own money is less than a quarter of the balance. Now read the top-right cell. After 10 years, the same 8% has added only $18,883.81. Compounding is slow, then sudden.
The table also shows how much the rate assumption matters. Over 30 years, the gap between 6% and 8% is $145,753.32. When a projection looks great, check the rate behind it before you believe it.
Starting early beats depositing more
Two savers each put in $96,000 at 6%. One saves $200 a month for 40 years. The other saves $400 a month for 20 years. The first ends with $398,298.15. The second ends with $184,816.36. Same deposits, more than twice the result, because the early dollars had two extra decades to compound.
Deposit timing adds up. $6,000 a year at 7% for 30 years grows to $566,764.72 with end-of-year deposits and $606,438.25 with start-of-year deposits. Putting each year's money in during January instead of December is worth $39,673.53.
Common mistakes and limitations
If your result looks off, it's almost always one of these four things.
- Changing the frequency changes the deposit. The deposit field follows the frequency. Switch the defaults from Monthly to Weekly and $200 a month becomes $200 a week: $104,000 of deposits and a future value of $160,606.25. If you deposit monthly, keep Monthly.
- Positive signs in a spreadsheet. Positive pmt and pv in
=FV()flip the answer negative. Same number, opposite sign. - Years that don't split into whole periods. Periods round to the nearest whole one. 2.3 years quarterly is 9.2 periods, which rounds to 9, and the formula line shows
n = round(2.3 × 4) = 9. - Typing an APY into the rate field. The field expects the stated annual rate, which gets divided by periods per year. Enter an APY instead and the result runs slightly high.
The Future Value Calculator also refuses inputs that don't make sense, and it tells you why. A rate of −100% or lower wipes out the balance. Negative amounts are debt, not savings, so it points you to the loan calculator. A starting amount and deposit of 0 leave nothing to grow. Results of $1,000,000,000,000,000 or more show in scientific notation, like $5.38e+30, instead of running off the screen.
A few limits are worth knowing. The rate stays fixed for the whole period, and real investments don't return a steady 6% every year. Deposits stay flat too, so the raise you plan to save in year three isn't in the number. Taxes, account fees, and inflation aren't included. Treat the result as a projection, not a promise. For a retirement decision, have a fee-only financial planner stress-test it.
Related calculations
Future value sits in the middle of a small family of money tools.
- Compound Interest Calculator — for a single lump sum with no deposits. Same growth math, fewer inputs.
- Savings Goal Calculator — runs this math backward. Give it a target and a date, and it tells you the monthly deposit you need.
- CAGR Calculator — for looking back. It finds the yearly growth rate between a start value and an end value, which beats guessing a round 7%.
- Inflation Calculator — shows what a dollar from a past year is worth today. A good reality check before you trust a 30-year balance.
- Rule of 72 Calculator — the mental shortcut for how many years it takes money to double at a given rate.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate future value with monthly deposits?
Divide the annual rate by 12 to get i, and multiply the years by 12 to get n. Then use the future value formula: FV = PV × (1 + i)n + PMT × ((1 + i)n − 1) ÷ i. $10,000 plus $200 a month at 6% for 10 years uses i = 0.005 and n = 120, and comes to $50,969.84. The Future Value Calculator does this the moment you pick Monthly.
What's the difference between an ordinary annuity and an annuity due?
An ordinary annuity makes each deposit at the end of the period, so the last deposit earns nothing. An annuity due makes each deposit at the start, so every deposit earns one more period of interest. $1,000 a year at 5% for 10 years grows to $12,577.89 as an ordinary annuity and $13,206.79 as an annuity due. In the calculator, that's the End of period and Start of period switch.
How do I use the FV function in Excel?
Type =FV(rate, nper, pmt, pv, type) with the rate per period, the number of periods, the deposit, the starting amount, and 0 or 1 for end or start. Enter the deposit and starting amount as negatives, because they're money leaving your pocket. =FV(5%, 10, -1000, 0, 0) returns 12577.89. Google Sheets uses the same arguments in the same order.
Does compounding frequency change the future value much?
Less than most people expect. $10,000 at 6% for 10 years with no deposits grows to $17,908.48 compounded yearly, $18,140.18 quarterly, $18,193.97 monthly, and $18,220.29 daily. Monthly to daily adds about $26 over a decade. The rate and the number of years matter far more.
Can the future value be less than what I put in?
Yes, with a negative rate. That's useful for seeing value in today's dollars: an account paying 1% while inflation runs 3% has a real return of about −2%. $10,000 at −2% a year for 10 years comes to $8,170.73, and Interest earned shows −$1,829.27. That's the buying power you lost.
What interest rate should I use?
Use the rate you can actually count on. For a savings account or CD, that's the stated rate. For stocks or funds, returns swing year to year, so run the Future Value Calculator at two or three rates and plan around the lower result. The 30-year row in the table above shows why: 6% versus 8% is a $145,753.32 difference.
Is future value the same as compound interest?
They use the same growth math, but compound interest usually means one lump sum left alone. Future value also handles a deposit every period and the timing of those deposits. For a single deposit with nothing added, the compound interest calculator gives the same answer. To work backward from a target, use the savings goal calculator.