How to Calculate Future Value with FV in Excel

Project what a retirement account will be worth from a starting balance, monthly deposits and an expected return.

You will learn to

• Grow a lump sum with FV
• Add regular monthly deposits
• Separate investment growth from money you paid in

How it works

FV(rate, nper, pmt, [pv], [type]) returns what an investment will be worth after a number of periods at a constant rate. Match the period: for monthly deposits use the annual rate ÷ 12 and the years × 12, e.g. =FV(7%/12,25*12,-400,-15000).

Excel treats money you pay in as negative and money you get back as positive, so enter deposits and the starting balance as negatives to get a positive future value. Subtract everything you deposited from the result to see how much came from compound growth.

=FV(B4/12,B5*12,-B3,-B2)