Compound Interest Calculator With Withdrawals
This calculator models a balance that keeps earning compound interest while you take money out on a schedule. It tells you plainly whether the balance grows, shrinks, or runs out, and in which year. Results update as you type.
The amount you begin with
Rate earned on the remaining balance
How often interest is added
Taken out on the schedule below
Raise withdrawals by this percent each year. 0 for level withdrawals.
The projection horizon
Balance after the period
- Total withdrawn$0
- Interest earned$0
Hover or tap the chart for any year's balance.
An estimate from your inputs. Real balances move with rate changes and withdrawal timing that no fixed-rate model captures.
| Year | Withdrawn | Interest earned | Balance |
|---|
When to use this instead of the main calculator
The main compound interest calculator models money going in. This one models the harder question: what happens when money is coming out while the remainder keeps compounding. Each period, the balance earns interest at your rate, then the withdrawal is subtracted. When withdrawals outpace interest, the balance declines and eventually hits zero; the calculator names that year instead of leaving you to squint at the chart.
The optional annual increase lets withdrawals grow over time, the way real spending tends to. Set it to 3% and the tool raises the withdrawal every year, which usually moves the depletion point earlier than a flat model suggests.
A worked example
Take $500,000 at 5% compounded monthly, withdrawing $3,000 a month with no annual increase. Monthly interest starts around $2,083, which is less than the $3,000 leaving, so the balance declines slowly. Run those numbers above and the ledger shows the balance easing down year by year, with depletion landing well past the 30-year mark because the gap between interest and withdrawal is small. Push the withdrawal to $4,500 and the story changes fast. That sensitivity is the whole reason to model it rather than guess.
Built by Cedrick Reese of Ready Utilities. This tool runs a period-by-period simulation rather than a closed-form shortcut, applying interest before each withdrawal, and its results are cross-checked against the compound interest methodology published by the SEC at investor.gov extended with a withdrawal schedule. The year ledger is produced by the same simulation loop as the headline figure. Last reviewed: September 1, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Can my balance still grow while I take withdrawals?
Yes, whenever the interest earned each period is larger than the withdrawal. The calculator detects this and tells you plainly: either the year the balance runs out, or that it grows indefinitely at your inputs.
What withdrawal rate preserves the principal?
Purely as math: if the annual withdrawal is less than or equal to the balance times the annual rate, the principal never shrinks. On $500,000 at 5%, that is $25,000 a year. This is arithmetic about your entered assumptions, not a recommendation for any real portfolio.
How is this different from the savings withdrawal calculator?
This page is growth-first: you set a fixed time horizon and see what remains after withdrawals along the way. A savings withdrawal calculator asks the reverse question, how long a fixed pot lasts. We plan a dedicated drawdown-first tool; until it is live, run-until-depleted style questions work here too by watching the depletion notice.