Plug in your numbers and watch your money grow. The most powerful habit in personal finance is also the most boring — saving small amounts, consistently, for a long time. This calculator shows you why.
A balanced portfolio has historically averaged 5–7% per year, but every year is different.
After 20 years, you would have
$0
How compound interest actually works
The first year is boring. The fifth year starts to look interesting. By year fifteen or twenty, the interest you’re earning starts to dwarf what you’re putting in. That is the whole game.
The reason: each year your money earns interest on the original amount plus all the interest from previous years. Year by year, the snowball gets bigger by itself.
Why this matters for our families
A lot of our parents grew up trusting cash, real estate, and gold. Those things hold value — but they don’t compound. Sitting in a chequing account, money slowly loses value to inflation. Sitting in a properly-invested account, the same money quietly multiplies over decades.
You don’t need a big starting amount. The single most important number on this calculator is the years field. Time is what makes compounding work.