Use this future value calculator to estimate how a combination of current capital and ongoing contributions can grow under a specified compounding rate. Supports recurring and irregular cashflows to reflect more realistic savings and investment paths.
What is future value?
Future value is the worth of a current asset or sum of money at a specified date in the future, given an assumed rate of growth. It is one of the core concepts in time value of money: money available today is worth more than the same amount in the future because of its earning potential, and future value makes that difference quantifiable.
The concept scales from simple lump-sum projections to more realistic paths that include regular contributions over time, and optionally, irregular additional deposits that reflect how saving actually tends to happen in practice.
Future value formula
For a lump sum: FV = PV × (1 + r)^n
For recurring contributions: FV = PV × (1 + r)^n + PMT × [(1 + r)^n − 1] / r
Where FV is the future value being solved for, PV is the present value (the initial lump sum invested or saved today), r is the periodic interest rate, n is the number of compounding periods, and PMT is the regular contribution made each period. When compounding is more frequent than once per period, the effective rate adjusts accordingly.
How the future value calculator works
The output decomposes the final value into principal and accumulated growth. That separation is more useful than the headline number alone because it reveals whether the result is primarily driven by the amount being saved or by the assumed return rate. Those are different levers with different implications.
Savings behavior and return assumptions respond to very different interventions. A projection that depends heavily on a high return assumption is more fragile than one where the principal contribution carries most of the weight.
How future value is used in financial planning
Future value calculations appear in retirement planning, education savings projections, investment modeling, and capital budgeting. The decomposition between principal and interest is especially valuable when communicating projections, because it makes clear how sensitive the outcome is to the assumed growth rate versus the contribution level, which is usually the question that actually matters for decision making.