If you have ever wondered what an investment or sum of money will be worth in the future, then you are looking for the future value of that item. This can be extremely helpful when making decisions on what to do with your money. If you are struggling to decide whether to save your money or purchase an item or investment with that money, this calculator can help you make an informed decision. Money today will not have the same purchasing power that it will have in the future. You used to be able to buy a gallon of gas for a quarter, but now it seems they won’t even turn the pump on for less than $10.

Bank accounts right now are paying extremely low interest rates, so let’s say you have $1,000 and you are trying to decide to put it in the bank or buy something tangible. If you were to get a 1% interest rate on your money market account, then you would input the $1,000 and the 1% interest rate into the calculator below. Then simply select how many years you want to invest the money for and you will have the future value of that $1,000. This way you can decide what option is best for you. A 1% return on your money would be lower than the average rate of inflation, which the future value calculator does not take into consideration.

If you are trying to decide what your investments will be worth when you retire, or if you are trying to find out how much you need to save to retire with a certain amount of money then you can use this calculator to help. Let’s say you want to retire with $500,000. You can add up your investments and their rate of return and enter them in the calculator. By selecting how many years you want to work and save you can gauge whether you are on track to retire comfortably or whether you need to plan on eating rice and beans for the rest of your life.

To use the calculator below simply input the present value and the rate of return you expect the receive. Select how many time periods you want to calculate for, and the calculator will figure the future value for you.