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Annuity Future Value Calculator

See what steady contributions grow into over time.

How it is calculated

The tool treats the payment as an ordinary annuity, paid at the end of each period. It first converts your inputs: periodic rate i = annual rate ÷ 100 ÷ payments per year and number of payments n = years × payments per year. Then FV = PMT × ((1 + i)^n − 1) / i. If the rate is 0, it simply returns PMT × n. It also reports total paid = PMT × n and interest = FV − total paid. Rates are nominal annual rates compounded at the same frequency as the payments. Amounts are shown in US dollars. Years and payments per year must be above zero. The tool ignores taxes, fees, inflation and any starting balance, and it does not do annuity-due (start of period) timing.

Worked example

Save 500 a month for 20 years at 6% a year. Periodic rate i = 6 ÷ 100 ÷ 12 = 0.005. Payments n = 20 × 12 = 240. Growth factor (1.005)^240 ≈ 3.3102, so (3.3102 − 1) ÷ 0.005 ≈ 462.04. Future value = 500 × 462.04 = $231,020.45. Total paid in = 500 × 240 = $120,000.00, so growth contributed $111,020.45 of interest, nearly as much as the contributions themselves.

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Common mistakes

  • Entering a monthly payment but leaving payments per year at 1. The payment then compounds as a yearly deposit and the result is far too low.
  • Entering the rate as a decimal (0.06). The field takes percent, so 6 means 6%.
  • Entering the number of months in the years field. The tool multiplies years by payments per year, so 240 months would be treated as 240 years.
  • Expecting a starting balance to be included. Only the regular payments are modelled; add the growth of an existing lump sum separately.
  • Treating the nominal result as purchasing power. The figure is in future dollars and is not adjusted for inflation or tax.

About this calculator

The future value of an ordinary annuity answers what a series of regular, equal contributions grows into after being invested at a fixed rate of return, using the formula FV = PMT × [((1 + r)^n − 1) / r], where PMT is the periodic contribution, r is the periodic interest rate, and n is the number of periods.

This is the math behind retirement accounts, systematic investment plans, and any savings vehicle built on consistent contributions rather than a single lump sum — each contribution has a different amount of time to grow, and the formula sums the compounded value of all of them. You enter the contribution per payment, the annual rate of return, the number of years and how many payments you make per year; the calculator works out the periodic rate and the number of periods itself, then shows the projected total, separating how much came from your own contributions versus growth from returns.

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