How to use the calculator

Click the “click to edit” button

Start Date

By default, this is set to today. You can change it if you like.

Target Date

Paying for a child’s education? Saving for a house down payment? Planning to retire? Put that date in here.

Current Investment

How much are we starting with today?

Monthly Contribution

Regular savings can make a big difference in the long term thanks to compound interest. Put a negative number in here if you are using your investment funds to generate regular income.

Years

This just calculates the difference between the start date and the target date. It is used in the formula so please don’t change it.

Investment Objective

A private college costs $50,000 a year. No money down mortgages are rare beasts these days and you probably need more than you think to retire comfortably. Don’t forget to add in a bit extra for inflation, just to be on the safe side.

Required Rate of Return

This is how much your investments will need to generate after tax to meet your objectives. Since tax rates don’t look like they are going down any time soon, we suggest speaking to your tax expert to make sure your investments are in a tax appropriate account for your goals.

The best way to use the calculator is to plug in some numbers and see what comes out. Compound interest is a simple concept in theory but very difficult for most of us in practice.

The default numbers show the return required to double your investment portfolio in 5 years, plus a bit for inflation. But that doesn’t mean you can’t change the assumptions to fit your situation.

If your initial assumptions generate a rate of return that looks a bit aggressive (more than 15%, for example), sometimes a small change in the monthly contribution can make a big long term difference.

Next Step

Look over some of our portfolios. Click here or the tab at the top of the page.