🐖 Savings Goal Planner & Contribution Calculator
Work out what you would actually need to put aside to reach a savings target by a particular date — weekly, fortnightly, every four weeks or monthly — and keep a running log of what you have contributed so far.
A planning calculator for figures you enter yourself. No interest or investment growth is assumed, and it is not financial advice.
Your goal
Only the target amount is required. Add a date and the required contribution per period is worked out on every pattern.
Contribution tracker
Log what you actually put aside. Your starting amount is counted once — logged contributions are added to it, not alongside a second copy of it.
Your goal name, amounts, dates and notes stay in this browser. They are not uploaded, not added to the web address, and never included in analytics.
How the required contribution is worked out
- The amount still to find is
target − already saved. If you are already at or past the target, that is zero rather than a negative number. - The number of contributions before your date is counted from the calendar, not estimated. Weekly, fortnightly and four-weekly count whole periods of real days —
whole days ÷ 7,÷ 14,÷ 28. Monthly counts whole calendar months. - Those two answers genuinely differ — a year holds 52 weeks but only 12 months, and 4-weekly gives 13 payments a year, not 12. Rather than hide that, the results table shows all four patterns side by side so you can compare them.
- The required amount is then
still to find ÷ number of contributions. - If you enter what you plan to put aside, the shortfall or surplus is
(planned − required) × number of contributions. - In the tracker, tracked total = starting amount + logged contributions. The starting amount is added exactly once, so logging £50 against a £200 start gives £250, not £450.
- No interest, no investment return and no compounding are assumed anywhere. Money set aside is money set aside — adding a growth rate would make every figure on this page optimistic.
Want a small saving challenge to try?
The planner above does the arithmetic. This wheel is optional — spin it if you want one small saving habit to try alongside your goal. It is a prompt, not a plan, and nothing on it is financial advice.
🐖 Result
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A worked example
You want £1,200 for a replacement appliance and already have £200, so £1,000 is still to find. Your target date is 10 whole calendar months away.
Monthly, that is £100 a month (£1,000 ÷ 10). But the same ten months hold about 43 whole weeks, so weekly it is roughly £23.26 a week — which adds up to slightly more over the period, because there are more paydays in it. Neither figure is wrong; they are different plans, which is exactly why all four are shown.
If you plan to put aside £80 a month instead of the £100 required, the estimated shortfall by the target date is £200 — (100 − 80) × 10. Then, as you actually save, log each contribution: with a £200 start and logged amounts of £50 and £25, the tracked total is £275.
Frequently asked questions
Does it assume any interest or investment growth?
No. Not a penny. Every figure treats saving as putting money aside and nothing more. Adding an assumed return would make every result on the page optimistic, and nobody can tell you what your savings will actually earn.
Why is the weekly figure not just the monthly one divided by four?
Because a month is not four weeks. A year holds 52 weeks but only 12 months, so a "monthly" plan and a "weekly" plan covering the same dates involve different numbers of payments. The tool counts real calendar periods and shows all four patterns rather than pretending they agree.
Does logging a contribution double-count what I had already saved?
No, and there is a test that specifically checks it. The starting amount is counted once, then logged contributions are added to it. A £200 start with £50 and £25 logged gives a tracked total of £275.
What happens if my target date has already passed?
The tool says so and stops, rather than dividing by a negative number of periods and producing a confident nonsense figure. Pick a future date and it will recalculate.
Is my goal saved if I close the tab?
Yes. Your goal figures and logged contributions are stored in this browser under the key gws-saving-goal-v1, so a long-running goal survives. It stays on this device, is never uploaded, and the delete button removes it completely.
Is this financial advice?
No. It is arithmetic on figures you supply. It cannot see your income, your other commitments or what else might come up, and it does not know whether this goal is the right thing to save for.
How the wheel works
How does the wheel pick a result?
The wheel selects a result at random before the animation starts, then calculates the exact rotation needed to land that result under the pointer. The displayed result always matches where the wheel visually stops.
Is every option equally likely?
Yes. Every option has an equal chance of being selected, using your browser's built-in random number generator with no weighting or bias.
Can I edit the options?
Yes. Add, remove, or edit any option using the text area on the right. Changes take effect on your next spin and stay only for your current browser session.