Future value of investing a salary raise instead of absorbing it into spending.

A 300 monthly after-tax raise invested at 7% for 25 years grows to roughly 243,000. The same raise absorbed into spending produces a small lifestyle bump today but nothing for future-you. Investing raises instead of spending them is one of the highest-leverage habits to accelerate FI.

How to use it

Enter the after-tax monthly amount you could redirect (typical raises often convert to 100-500 monthly after tax), an expected return, and years to retirement.

Why this is high-leverage

Lifestyle inflation means most raises are invisibly absorbed. By the time the next raise lands, spending has risen to match and the raise feels 'spent'. Capturing raises into investment — before spending has a chance to absorb them — is mathematically simple and psychologically hard. Automating the redirect is the usual solution.

Quick example

With monthly raise of 300 and annual return of 7% (plus years to retirement of 25 years), the result is 243,021.51. Change any figure and watch the output shift — it's often more useful to see the pattern than to memorise the formula.

Which inputs matter most

You enter Monthly Raise (After Tax), Annual Return, and Years to Retirement. The rate and the time horizon usually dominate — compounding means a small change in either reshapes the final figure more than a similar shift in contribution size. Test this by doubling one input at a time.

What's happening under the hood

Standard future value of monthly ordinary annuity. Treats the raise as a constant monthly addition. Real raises grow over time (career progression compounds), so actual value is typically higher than the flat projection shows. The formula is listed in full below. If the number looks off, you can retrace the calculation by hand — that's the point of showing the working.

What the headline number hides

Gross pay, net pay, and what actually lands in your account can differ by thousands depending on tax code, benefits, pension contributions, and student loan deductions. This tool isolates one piece of that picture — always pair it with a take-home calculator for the full view.

What this doesn't capture

Tax bands, pension contributions, student-loan deductions, and benefits-in-kind sit outside this calculation. The figure is the headline; your actual position depends on local tax rules and personal circumstances. Pair with a dedicated take-home calculator for the full picture.