Annual DCA Calculator

Dollar-cost averaging — investing a fixed amount on a regular schedule rather than all at once — is one of the simplest long-term strategies, and its real power comes from compounding. Money you contribute early has the most years to grow, so the gap between what you put in and what you end up with widens dramatically over time. Seeing that gap is what turns an abstract savings habit into a concrete goal.

This calculator projects the future value of regular annual contributions earning compound interest. Enter your annual contribution, an expected annual rate of return, the number of years, and how often interest compounds, and it returns your final balance, your total invested capital, and the total interest earned. A year-by-year chart plots your balance against your contributions so you can see exactly where compounding takes over.

Returns are an assumption, not a promise — markets vary year to year and this model uses a single steady rate. Treat the output as a planning projection for comparing scenarios, not a forecast. All calculations run in your browser; nothing you enter is uploaded.