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Savings tracker

Savings Tracker

Track the things you are setting money aside for before and during retirement: a cash reserve, a new roof, a car, a long trip, a gift to a grandchild. See the month each one will be funded and whether that beats its deadline.

Planning Goals Around Retirement

  1. 1

    List the costs that will not wait for a good market

    Goals worth tracking are the known, lumpy expenses of the years just before and after you stop work. Each one gets its own target and deadline so it never has to be paid by selling investments at a bad moment.

    • Topping up the cash reserve to one or two years of portfolio withdrawals
    • A roof, a furnace, windows, or changes that let you stay in the house
    • A replacement car, bought with cash rather than a loan
    • The long trip you have been postponing
    • Gifts to children and grandchildren, including 529 contributions
    • Dental work, hearing aids and other costs Medicare does not cover
  2. 2

    Set a target and a deadline for each

    Use a written quote where you can. For anything more than two years out, raise the target once a year for inflation. A deadline turns a wish into a monthly deposit: target minus what you have, spread over the months left.

  3. 3

    Decide where the monthly deposit comes from

    While you are working it comes from pay. In retirement it is usually a slice of the regular portfolio withdrawal, pension income you do not spend, or part of a required minimum distribution (from 73, or 75 if born in 1960 or later). Route it on a fixed day each month so the goal is funded by habit.

  4. 4

    Hold the money where it cannot fall

    Money needed within three years belongs in insured savings, a money market fund, Treasury bills or short CDs, not in stocks. Keep goal money separate from the everyday account, either in its own account or as a clearly labeled slice of one.

  5. 5

    Check two things each month

    Update what each goal holds, then look at the status. The tracker compares the month the goal will be funded, counting interest, with its deadline. If a goal is behind, it tells you the deposit that would close the gap.

Keep goal money apart from the cash reserve

The cash reserve exists to pay living costs through a market decline. If the roof and the car are paid from it, the reserve is short exactly when you may need it. Track the reserve as a goal of its own, and fund other goals alongside it.

How Much Does Interest Lower the Monthly Deposit?

A little on short goals and a meaningful amount on large, longer ones. The simplest rule, goal divided by months, assumes the money earns nothing. If it sits in an account that pays interest, part of the goal is paid by the bank, and the deposit you need falls:

Monthly deposit = Goal × r ÷ ((1 + r)n − 1)

where r = (1 + APY)1/12 − 1 is the monthly rate and n is the number of months, starting from nothing saved

Monthly deposit needed, by account APY
Goal0% APY1% APY3.5% APY
Dental work and hearing aids: $6,000 in 12 months$500$498$492
A long trip: $18,000 in 18 months$1,000$993$976
A new roof: $28,000 in 24 months$1,167$1,156$1,129
A car paid in cash: $42,000 in 36 months$1,167$1,150$1,109

On the car, a 3.5% account pays about $2,100 of the $42,000 over three years, against about $600 at 1% and nothing in checking. Across several goals and a cash reserve, where the money sits is worth a few minutes each quarter. The savings goal calculator runs this for any single goal.

How Can You Tell If a Goal Is On Track?

Compare the month the goal will be funded with its deadline. A balance can look healthy and still arrive late. The tracker makes two checks:

  • Projected finish. What is left, divided by the monthly deposit, and adjusted for interest. That is the month you will actually finish at your current pace.
  • Deposit needed. If the finish is after the deadline, the monthly deposit that would meet it, counting interest on what is already saved.

Take the sample roof: $28,000 target, $9,000 saved, $800 a month. The remaining $19,000 takes 24 months with no interest, or 23 months at 3.5%, inside a 24-month deadline. If the roofer says it cannot wait past 18 months, the deposit has to rise to about $1,004 a month, or another goal has to give way. Knowing that a year and a half ahead is far easier than finding out the week the scaffolding goes up.

How Should Gifts to Grandchildren Be Planned?

As a goal with a target, a deadline and a tax limit. In 2026 each person can give up to $19,000 to any number of people without filing a gift-tax return; a couple can give $38,000 to each grandchild. Sizing each gift to the exclusion keeps the paperwork simple.

  • 529 plans. A contribution is a gift to the beneficiary. You can elect to treat a larger one as made evenly over five years, up to $95,000 per giver, by filing Form 709 in the year of the gift (IRS Form 709 instructions). Other gifts to that grandchild in those five years count above the exclusion.
  • Tuition paid directly. Tuition paid straight to a school is excluded from gift tax and does not count against the annual exclusion (IRS). It covers tuition only, not room, board or books.
  • Timing. A gift planned for a birthday or graduation has a natural deadline; enter it so the tracker can tell you if the deposit is enough.

The guide to gifting to children and grandchildren covers larger gifts, the lifetime exemption and gifts of appreciated shares.

Which Costs Catch Retirees Unprepared?

Mostly the ones that come around every ten or twenty years. A roof, a furnace, a car and a kitchen are easy to forget when the last one was bought while you were working. Health costs outside Medicare are the other group: Original Medicare does not cover most dental care, hearing aids or routine eye exams for glasses (Medicare.gov).

A practical approach is to list every major item in the house and the car with its age and expected life, price the ones due in the next five years, and give each a line in the tracker. The rest can wait for next year's review. If you are thinking about moving instead of renovating, the guide to downsizing in retirement weighs the costs of each.

Where Does Goal Tracking Fall Short?

  • Inflation moves the target. A $42,000 car costs about $45,900 in three years at 3% inflation. Raise targets once a year, or check them with the inflation calculator.
  • Rates are assumptions. Savings and money market yields are variable. The tracker holds the APY constant; update it when your account's rate changes.
  • Taxes are not deducted. Interest is taxable income. If the deposit comes from a traditional IRA withdrawal, the gross withdrawal has to cover the tax as well.
  • Cash suits near-term goals only. For goals five or more years away, such as a gift planned for a grandchild's wedding, part of the money can stay invested and move to cash as the date nears.

Learn more: Read our comprehensive guide on

Emergency Fund 101: How Much Do You Really Need?

The full guide to sizing, holding and rebuilding a cash safety net, including where to keep it and when to use it.

How this calculator works

Method and assumptions

  • Each goal is tracked on its own: the amount still to save is the target minus what is already saved, and percent funded is saved divided by target.
  • The yield you enter is an annual percentage yield (APY). It is turned into a monthly rate of (1 + APY) to the power 1/12, minus 1, and interest compounds monthly on the balance and every deposit.
  • Months to finish at your yield solve for the number of monthly deposits (made at the end of each month) that grow today's balance to the target, rounded up to a whole month. The no-interest figure is simply the amount left divided by the monthly deposit.
  • The deposit needed to meet a deadline is the level monthly payment that, with today's balance growing at the same rate, reaches the target in the months you allow.
  • A goal is on track when the months to finish at your yield are no more than the months to its deadline; otherwise it shows the monthly deposit that would meet the date.

What it leaves out

  • One yield applies to every goal, and it is held constant. Rate changes, CD terms and Treasury bill rollovers are not modeled.
  • Tax on the interest is ignored, so the balances grow slightly faster than they would in a taxable account.
  • Inflation is not applied: targets stay at the amounts you enter, so a goal several years away may cost more by then.
  • The tracker doesn't check that the total of your monthly deposits fits your budget or income.

Methodology reviewed · For education, not individual advice

Savings Tracker FAQs

What should I track savings goals for in retirement?

The known, lumpy costs that a monthly budget does not absorb. The common ones are topping up the cash reserve, a roof or other major home repair, a replacement car, a long trip, gifts to children and grandchildren, and health costs Medicare does not cover, such as dental work and hearing aids. Giving each its own target and deadline means none of them has to be paid by selling investments at short notice.

Where should I keep money for a goal two or three years away?

Somewhere its value cannot fall. Insured savings and money market deposit accounts, money market funds, Treasury bills and short CDs all fit. Bank deposits are insured up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, per ownership category (FDIC). Treasury bill interest is exempt from state and local income tax (TreasuryDirect), which helps in high-tax states. Money needed within three years does not belong in stocks.

Should goal money come out of my cash reserve?

No. Track the reserve as a goal of its own. The reserve is there to pay living costs through a market decline so you do not sell stocks at a low. If the roof and the car are paid from it, it is short exactly when it may be needed. The emergency fund calculator sizes the reserve in years of portfolio withdrawals.

How much can I give a grandchild without filing a gift-tax return?

$19,000 per grandchild per year in 2026, from each giver. A married couple can give $38,000 to each grandchild without using any of their lifetime exemption or filing a return. For a 529 plan, you can elect to spread a larger contribution over five years, up to $95,000 per person, by filing Form 709 (IRS). Tuition paid directly to a school is excluded from gift tax altogether and does not use the annual exclusion.

Is interest on goal savings taxable?

Yes, as ordinary income, reported on Form 1099-INT. It also counts in the modified adjusted gross income that sets Medicare Part B and D surcharges two years later. On a few tens of thousands of dollars that rarely matters, but a large reserve plus several goal funds can add a few thousand dollars of income. Treasury bills avoid state tax, and a municipal money market fund can avoid federal tax as well.

How do I fund goals once I stop working?

From the same sources that pay the rest of your spending. Most retirees route part of each monthly portfolio withdrawal, unspent pension or Social Security income, or part of a required minimum distribution (from 73, or 75 if born in 1960 or later) into the goal account on a fixed day. If a goal is large, such as a car, you can also take it as one planned withdrawal in a year when your taxable income is otherwise low. The guide to retirement withdrawal order covers which account to draw from.

How often should I update the tracker?

Once a month is enough. Enter the balance each goal holds from your statements, and look at the status: the tracker compares the month each goal will be funded with its deadline. Once a year, update the targets for inflation and check the APY your account pays, since savings rates are variable.

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