How much will $300 a month be worth in 5 years?

Investing $300 a month for 5 years means paying in $18,000 in total. At a hypothetical 7% annual return it would grow to $21,359: $18,000 from your contributions and $3,359 from investment growth. At 4% the balance would be $19,854 ($1,854 of growth), and at 10% it would be $22,968 ($4,968 of growth).

At 4% a year

$19,854

$1,854 of that is growth

At 7% a year

$21,359

$3,359 of that is growth

At 10% a year

$22,968

$4,968 of that is growth

4%, 7% and 10% are example rates, not forecasts. Real returns change from year to year and are never guaranteed, and these figures leave out fees, taxes and inflation.

$300 a month for 5 years at different rates of return

Annual return	Final balance	Total contributed	Interest earned
1%	$18,448	$18,000	$448
2%	$18,906	$18,000	$906
3%	$19,374	$18,000	$1,374
4%	$19,854	$18,000	$1,854
5%	$20,344	$18,000	$2,344
6%	$20,846	$18,000	$2,846
7%	$21,359	$18,000	$3,359
8%	$21,883	$18,000	$3,883
9%	$22,420	$18,000	$4,420
10%	$22,968	$18,000	$4,968
11%	$23,529	$18,000	$5,529
12%	$24,102	$18,000	$6,102

Assumes no starting balance, a contribution at the end of every month, and a constant rate compounded once a year (an effective annual rate). You pay in $18,000 in every row; only the growth changes, from $448 at 1% to $6,102 at 12%.

Try your own numbers

The calculator starts with this example at 7%. Change the amount, rate or time period, add a starting balance, or switch the compounding, and the result updates as you type.

Balance after 5 years

$21,359

15.7% of that is interest. Your balance is 1.19 times what you put in.

Total contributions

$18,000

Interest earned

$3,359

Growth by year

Contributions
Interest

Year-by-year breakdown

Year	Contributions	Interest	Balance
1	$3,600	$114	$3,714
2	$7,200	$488	$7,688
3	$10,800	$1,140	$11,940
4	$14,400	$2,090	$16,490
5	$18,000	$3,359	$21,359

How much is your money and how much is growth?

At 7%, 5 years is not long enough for growth to overtake what you pay in: growth is 16% of the final balance and the other 84% is your own money. Keep contributing at the same pace and growth would pass contributions during year 19. A different rate moves that point, but not into these 5 years: it would come in year 14 at 10% and in year 33 at 4%.

In year 5 alone, the balance earns $1,268 at 7%. That is less than the $3,600 you add that year, and compares with $114 of growth in year 1.

What if you change the plan?

Each row changes one thing and keeps everything else the same, at the 7% example rate. The comparison is with $300 a month for 5 years, which ends at $21,359.

Change	Final balance	Difference
Keep contributing for 5 more years (10 years in total)	$51,316	+$29,957
Contribute $400 a month instead of $300	$28,478	+$7,120
Start with $10,000 already invested	$35,384	+$14,026
Contribute at the start of each month instead of the end	$21,480	+$121
Earn 6% a year instead of 7%	$20,846	−$513

Another 5 years adds $18,000 of your own money and raises the balance by $29,957. The extra $11,957 is growth, most of it earned on money that was already invested. A return that is one point lower leaves you with $513 less after 5 years, which is roughly what a 1% annual fee would cost.

Working backwards: to reach $50,000 in 5 years at 7%, starting from zero, you would need to invest about $702 a month.

When would the balance reach $50,000?

The table shows the year in which the balance first reaches each amount, assuming the same $300 a month continues for as long as it takes. Years in bold fall within this page's 5-year period.

Balance reaches	At 4%	At 7%	At 10%
$5,000	Year 2	Year 2	Year 2
$10,000	Year 3	Year 3	Year 3
$25,000	Year 7	Year 6	Year 6
$50,000	Year 12	Year 10	Year 9

How this is calculated

The rate is treated as an effective annual rate, so the balance grows by exactly 7% over a full year. The monthly rate that compounds to 7% a year is:

Monthly rate = (1 + 0.07)^1/12 − 1 = 0.5654%

With $300 added at the end of each month for 60 months (5 × 12), the contributions grow to:

Balance = 300 × [1.005654⁶⁰ − 1] ÷ 0.005654 ≈ $21,359

The rates shown here are rounded; the result uses full precision. Of that balance, 300 × 60 = $18,000 is your contributions and the remaining $3,359 is growth. Every other row in the rate table uses the same formula with a different annual rate. The compound interest calculator page explains the formulas in more detail.

Frequently asked questions

How much interest will $300 a month earn in 5 years?

It depends on the rate of return. At a constant 7% a year, $300 a month for 5 years earns $3,359 on top of $18,000 in contributions, for a balance of $21,359. At 4% the growth is $1,854, and at 10% it is $4,968. These rates are examples, not predictions.

How long does it take to reach $50,000 investing $300 a month?

With a constant 7% annual return and no starting balance, the balance passes $50,000 during year 10. For comparison, at 10% it takes until year 9, and at 4% it takes until year 12.

How much do I need to invest each month to have $50,000 in 5 years?

At a constant 7% annual return you would need about $702 a month for 5 years, starting from zero. At 4% you would need about $756 a month, and at 10% about $653 a month.

$300 a month over other periods

Other monthly amounts for 5 years

A single lump sum for 5 years

See all compound interest examples in one table, or start from scratch with the compound interest calculator.