Student Investment Calculator

You don't have much money yet — but you have something better: time. See what starting now could do.

Start Small — Watch It Grow
Made for students. Most students start with $0 and just a little each month — that's exactly what this is set up for. Change the monthly amount and how many years until you're ~65, then press Calculate. Everything else already has a sensible default. New to all this? Read What Are Dividends? or Why Starting at 20 Beats Starting at 30.
Most students start at $0 — that's totally fine.
Even $25–$50 a month adds up. Start where you can.
Monthly is the easiest habit to keep.
The longer the better — even 30 years is powerful. (Over very long spans, treat the result as a rough illustration.)
Leave at 3.5% — a realistic, typical number.
Leave at 3%. How fast the payout rises.
Leave at 4%. How fast prices climb.
0% for a Roth IRA (great for students). Use 15% for a regular account.
Reinvest dividends each year to buy more shares
Your Results
What It Could Be Worth
—
Total You Put In
—
Dividends Earned (After Tax)
—
Income Per Year (final year)
—
Income Per Month (final year)
—
Total Dividends (Gross)
—
Yield on Cost
—
vs. your original yield
Your Snowball

The brass band on top is dividends earning more dividends. Watch how it speeds up in the later years — that's why starting young matters so much.

What you put in Price growth Reinvested dividends
Year-by-Year
Year Value Added That Year Total Added Gross Dividends Net Dividends Cumul. Net Divs Eff. Yield
Educational tool only — not financial advice. Early years will track your real buying schedule only loosely — lump-sum timing shifts the first few years and washes out over decades. This uses simplified, constant-rate assumptions to illustrate how compounding works over long periods. It is not a prediction — real returns vary every year and investing involves risk, including loss of principal. The longer the time horizon, the more these simplified figures should be treated as a rough illustration, not a forecast. Consult a qualified financial advisor before investing.

Why This Calculator Is Different

Most investment calculators assume you already have thousands to invest. This one is built for where students actually are: starting from zero, adding small amounts, but with decades ahead of you. That long runway is the whole point — it's the one advantage you have that older investors would pay anything to get back. See the full explanation in Investing for College Students.