Excel FV Function: What Savings Will Be Worth Later
Returns what regular deposits, plus any starting balance, will grow to.
FV projects forward. Put a fixed amount away every month at a given rate and FV tells you what the pot will hold at the end. It is the formula behind every savings calculator, pension projection and sinking-fund plan.
The argument people forget is pv, which is the balance you are starting with. Leave it out and FV assumes you begin at zero, which is fine for a new plan and wrong for an existing one. Pass the current balance as a negative number and the projection accounts for both the deposits and what is already there.
It obeys the same two rules as the rest of the family. The result is negative when the deposits are positive, because Excel treats them as outflows; and the rate and the number of periods must be in the same unit. Monthly deposits at an annual rate need rate/12 and years*12.
Syntax
=FV(rate, nper, pmt, [pv], [type])Arguments
rateRequired- The growth rate per period. Divide an annual rate by 12 for monthly.
nperRequired- The number of periods, matching the rate's unit.
pmtRequired- The deposit each period. Enter it negative — it is money leaving you — so the result comes back positive.
pvOptional- The starting balance, also entered negative. Defaults to 0, which assumes you begin with nothing.
typeOptional- 0 for deposits at the end of each period (default), 1 for the start. Depositing at the start earns one extra period of growth.
The example data
Headers in row 1, data in A2:E5. Rates are annual.
| A | B | C | D | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plan | Deposit | Annual rate | Years | Target |
| 2 | Reserve fund | 500 | 0.045 | 10 | 75000 |
| 3 | Equipment pot | 250 | 0.032 | 5 | 16000 |
| 4 | Expansion | 1200 | 0.061 | 8 | 150000 |
Worked examples
=FV(C2/12, D2*12, -B2)Result: 75519.35
£500 a month for ten years at 4.5%, starting from nothing. Just above the £75,000 target.
=FV(C2/12, D2*12, -B2, -10000)Result: 91186.15
The same plan with a £10,000 starting balance. Both pmt and pv are negative, being money paid in.
=FV(C3/12, D3*12, -B3)Result: 16234.22
The smaller plan over five years, comfortably clearing its £16,000 target.
=FV(C2/12, D2*12, -B2, 0, 1)Result: 75802.55
Depositing at the start of each month instead of the end. One extra period of compounding on every payment.
Now practise it
Reading about a formula is not the same as writing one. Open this function's exercise and type it into a real grid — you get instant feedback on exactly which cell is wrong and why.
Common errors and how to fix them
The result is negative
Why it happens: pmt was entered positive, so Excel reports the future value as an outflow.
How to fix it: Enter deposits as negative numbers. This is consistent across PV, FV and PMT.
Projection is wildly too high
Why it happens: An annual rate used with a monthly number of periods, so the money compounds twelve times faster than it should.
How to fix it: rate/12 with years*12, or the annual rate with the number of years. Never mix.
Starting balance is ignored
Why it happens: pv was left out, so it defaulted to zero.
How to fix it: Pass the current balance as the fourth argument, negative like the deposits.
#VALUE!
Why it happens: One of the arguments is text.
How to fix it: Check the rate cell is a real number rather than a typed percentage string.
Tips worth knowing
- type of 1 models depositing at the start of the period, which is worth a surprising amount over long horizons.
- To find the deposit needed to hit a target, use PMT with the target as fv rather than solving FV by trial and error.
- FV assumes a constant rate throughout. For varying returns, build a year-by-year table instead.
- The underlying maths is POWER(1 + rate, nper) — FV just applies it to a payment stream as well as a lump sum.
Frequently asked questions
How do I include money I have already saved?
Pass it as the fourth argument, pv, and make it negative like the deposits: =FV(rate, nper, -deposit, -starting_balance). Omitting it silently assumes you are starting from zero.
Why is my FV negative?
Because the deposits were entered as positive numbers. Excel's finance functions treat money you pay in as negative, so entering pmt as -500 rather than 500 gives a positive future value.
How do I work out what monthly deposit I need to reach a target?
Use PMT with the target as the future value: =PMT(rate/12, years*12, 0, target). It solves the same equation from the other direction, which is much better than guessing at FV until the number looks right.
Related functions
Guides that use it
Longer reads where this function does real work in a real sheet.