Savings Calculator Methodology

Value of savings in the future

Where

S = amount of savings today

A = annual additions to savings

n = number of years of saving

r = assumed rate of return

V = value of savings in n years

Amount of savings needed today

Where

S = amount of savings today

A = annual additions to savings

n = number of years of saving

r = assumed rate of return

V = value of savings in n years

Amount of annual savings needed

Where

S = amount of savings today

A = annual additions to savings

n = number of years of saving

r = assumed rate of return

V = value of savings in n years

Rate of return required to reach a future savings goal

This cannot be done with a formula. The value of r must be found using an iterative technique. There are several methods of doing this. We use a hybrid of the Newton-Raphson and bisection methods described by Press, Teukolsky, Vetterling, and Flannery on pp. 366-367 in Numerical Recipes in C (1999, Cambridge University Press).