Excel FV Formula

What this does

FV projects a savings balance forward: a starting amount, a regular contribution and a growth rate become a figure at the end of the term. It is the compound-interest calculation with contributions built in, which is what separates it from a simple (1+r)^n. Enter contributions and the opening balance as negative, since they are money leaving your pocket, and the result comes back positive. Setting the type argument to 1 models deposits made at the start of each period, which grows slightly faster because each contribution earns for one extra period. The same idea underpins a lot of everyday Excel work, so the few minutes spent getting it right here pay back across every sheet you build afterwards. Treat it as a pattern, not a one-off, and it stops being something you look up and starts being something you reach for. Treat “excel fv formula” as a small repeatable workflow rather than a one-off click you hope to remember next time. Use a small test block before the live file, so any surprise in the affected formula shows up while it is still harmless. When a formula is involved, keep the inputs labelled beside it, reference cells instead of typing values, and apply number formatting only after the result checks out. That turns a calculation you can defend to a CFO or an auditor into a method you can reuse, explain, and defend when the workbook leaves your screen.

A worked example

Saving 500 a month for 20 years at 6 %, starting from 10,000: =FV(6%/12, 240, -500, -10000) returns about 264,000. Of that, 130,000 is contributions and the rest is growth. Depositing at the start of each month instead, =FV(6%/12, 240, -500, -10000, 1), adds roughly another 1,100. FV is the projection behind every savings and retirement plan, and it is the contributions argument that makes it more useful than raw compounding. One habit worth forming early: name the cells that hold your inputs, so the formula reads in plain language instead of a string of cell addresses. A reviewer — or you in three months — can then follow the logic without decoding what B7 and D2 were supposed to mean, which is most of what makes a sheet maintainable.

In Google Sheets

Everything above works in Google Sheets too. Excel and Sheets share the formula syntax used here; only the surrounding menus are arranged differently. That portability is deliberate — learn it once and it follows you between the two tools and across Windows and Mac. Keep this page bookmarked for the next time the same question comes up. Better still, rebuild the example once in your own sheet — doing it yourself, with the tool above to check against, is what turns a copied formula into a technique you own. If you take one thing from this page on “excel fv formula”, make it the habit rather than the keystrokes: set the problem up with labelled inputs, reference those cells, and let Excel do the recomputing. Bookmark the page for the syntax, but do the example once in a blank sheet and check it against the tool above — five minutes of hands-on practice fixes the method in memory far better than re-reading, and it surfaces the small snags while they are still harmless. After that the technique is genuinely yours: faster than searching for it again, and reliable enough to drop into work that other people depend on.

Common mistakes

• Entering contributions as positive, which returns a negative future value.
• Mixing an annual rate with monthly periods, which vastly overstates the result.
• Presenting a single projection as a forecast; vary the rate to show the range instead.

Frequently asked questions