An Everyday Investor

Compound Interest Calculator

See how a monthly investment can grow over time. Adjust returns, inflation, and annual deposit increases to view your deposits, interest, total balance, and real (inflation-adjusted) return.

How to use it 

  1. Choose currency (only impacts the symbol) and years invested.

  2. Enter initial investment and monthly contribution.

  3. Set an annual return and optional annual deposit increase.

  4. Add inflation to see buying power (“Real Return”).

  5. Hover the chart to compare Deposits, Interest, Balance, and Real Return by year.

  6. Download the table as CSV.

What the results mean

  • Deposits: total you’ve put in.

  • Interest: market growth on your deposits.

  • Balance: deposits + interest.

  • Real Return: balance adjusted for inflation (today’s money).

  • Rule of thumb: time in the market > timing the market.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: What’s a realistic annual return to use?

Historically, broad stock markets delivered ~7–10% before fees and inflation over long periods. For planning, many use 5–8% nominal and also test a conservative case (e.g., 4–6%).

Inflation reduces buying power. The Real Return number shows your balance in today’s euros so you don’t overestimate what the money can buy.

If your income grows, increasing contributions by some % yearly can noticeably boost long-term results, even more than chasing higher returns. 

Yes. Reinvesting Dividends and adding monthly contributions compounds over time. Treat Dividends as “Additional Montly Contributions”.

Stacking makes the sources of growth obvious, what came from you vs. the market. The orange balance line shows the total.

Use Download CSV to save the table for spreadsheets or sharing.

Balance is the raw number. Real return removes inflation so you see the value in today’s money.