Savings Yield Calculator
High-yield vs standard — the difference is real money.
High-yield future value:
Standard future value:
Difference after period:
How to use this calculator
Enter your balance, high-yield rate, standard bank rate and years, then press Calculate. Future values for both and the difference are shown.
What the result means
The difference is what switching banks is worth. On modest balances it's hundreds per year; over years it compounds into thousands.
What the comparison shows
This tool compounds your balance at a high-yield rate and a standard bank rate over the same years, then shows the dollar gap. The math is simple compounding: balance x (1 + rate)^years, assuming you add nothing and withdraw nothing.
Worked example
$10,000 at 4.5% for 10 years grows to about $15,500. The same $10,000 at 0.1% in a standard account grows to about $10,100. That is a $5,400 difference earned by doing nothing but moving the money.
Why it matters more than the rate looks
A few percentage points on a small balance looks trivial, but over years of contributions it compounds. On a growing emergency fund, the annual yield gap alone can exceed a month's worth of deposits.
Frequently asked questions
Are high-yield savings accounts safe?
Yes — deposits are FDIC-insured to $250,000, same as a standard bank.
What's the catch?
Most are online-only with no branches, and transfers take 1-3 days.
Are high-yield accounts safe?
Yes, up to the deposit insurance limit ($250,000 per depositor per bank in the US) - the higher rate is not a risk premium in the way a stock return is.