When it comes to retirement or long-term savings goals, it’s just about impossible to simply save enough money to reach your goal because of inflation. By investing in stocks, bonds, real estate, or other investments that achieve higher rates of returns than simple savings accounts, you can take advantage of compound interest.

Compound interest is powerful because it allows you to make interest on interest. It is calculated based on your initial investment or principal plus additional contributions over a specific period of time, the rate, and how often the money is compounded. The two biggest factors you have control over are how much you contribute and the time over which you contribute.

Check out the compound interest calculator below to determine your projected investment total.