Free Tool · For Budgeters
The Sinking Fund Calculator
December is not an emergency. Neither is the car insurance bill, the property tax, or the vacation you book every year — they are all just future bills with known dates. A sinking fund turns each one into a small, boring set-aside per paycheck, starting now. Add up to five goals and get one combined number to automate.
How much per paycheck?
Enter each goal, what you have already saved toward it, and the date the money is due. Results update as you type.
How the count works: paychecks left = the whole pay periods between today and the due date (at least one — if the bill lands inside a single pay cycle, the full remaining amount is due from the next paycheck). The optional yield credits your already-saved money and each set-aside with interest at the rate you enter, spread evenly across your pay periods.
Your combined set-aside
—
| Goal | Still needed | Paychecks left | Per paycheck | Per month | Funded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All goals combined | — | — | — |
Private by design: everything runs right here in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere or saved anywhere — close the tab and it's gone. Amounts are straight arithmetic on the dates and yield you enter; your bank's actual interest crediting may differ slightly.
Straight Answers
What makes a sinking fund actually work
One fund per bill, not one big pot
A single “savings” pile gets spent three times in your head. Separate goals — even if the money physically sits in one account, tracked as separate lines — are what stop December from eating the car-insurance money. This calculator keeps the lines separate and only combines the paycheck total.
The per-paycheck number is the whole system
Nobody saves $1,200 for Christmas in December. Plenty of people can set aside a small amount twenty-six times without feeling it. The method behind this calculator — pick the categories, do one division, automate the transfer — is laid out step by step in Build a Sinking Fund in 20 Minutes.
Start with the bill that hurt last time
You do not need twelve funds on day one. Start with the one expense that went on a credit card last year, fund it first, and add the next goal on the next payday. A fund that is 60% ready still turns a crisis into an inconvenience.
Let the yield help, but do not count on it
A high-yield savings account shaves a little off each set-aside — the calculator credits it honestly, period by period. But the yield is the garnish. The set-aside itself is the meal: at 0% the plan still works exactly as written.
Paying off debt alongside the funds? See both payoff strategies side by side in the Debt Payoff Calculator.
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