Short on time? Here is the answer: to have $50,000 five years from now starting from zero, set aside $833.33 every month if the account earns no interest. If the money sits in an account earning 4% a year — an assumption for illustration, not a promise — the monthly deposit drops to about $754.16 . Keep reading for the step-by-step plan and the exact spots where plans like this usually break. Try the Savings Goal Calculator → The three numbers that decide your plan At 0%: $833.33 a month. That is $50,000 of your own deposits and $0 in interest. At 4% (assumption): about $754.16 a month. That is roughly $45,250 of deposits and about $4,750 in interest — $79.17 a month less than the 0% case. At 6% (assumption, invested rather than saved): about $716.64 a month, with roughly $7,000 in interest. The 4% and 6% figures are assumptions, not quoted rates. No savings account or investment guarantees a rate. These monthly figures were verified with the Savings Goal Calculator . Why...