The bar-style growth chart on the CD & Savings Calculator was always good for a quick glance at how a balance climbs over time. It was never great for pulling an exact number. That gap just closed: you can now toggle on a full, detailed accumulation schedule table right next to the chart.
If you've used the calculator before, you'll already recognize the year-by-year bar chart that appears under your results on both the CD tab and the Savings growth tab. That chart hasn't gone anywhere — it's still the default view. What's new sits directly beneath it.
What actually changed
Quick answerA new button, "Show detailed year-by-year accumulation schedule," now appears under the growth chart. Clicking it reveals a full table; clicking it again hides it.
Previously, the growth chart's bars were the only way to see your balance's trajectory — useful for a shape, less useful for a precise figure. Now, after you calculate a CD or savings projection, a toggle button sits right below the chart. Click it, and a table unfolds showing every year of your projection as its own row, with exact dollar figures instead of bar lengths to squint at. Click it a second time and the table collapses again, so the calculator stays compact until you actually want the numbers.
Why it's a toggle, not always-on: most people just want the quick visual read from the chart. The full table is there for the times you specifically need to check an exact year's numbers, so it's opt-in rather than cluttering the results by default.
How to read the table
Quick answerEach row is one year, showing the starting balance, any contributions made that year, interest earned, and the ending balance.
The table's columns are deliberately plain. For a given year you see the balance you started the year with, the amount added through contributions during that year (this column only shows up if you've entered a recurring monthly contribution — a plain CD or lump-sum projection skips it), how much interest accrued that year, and the balance you ended the year with, which becomes next year's starting balance. It's the same math driving the bar chart, just laid out as exact figures instead of relative bar heights.
On the CD tab, a short one-year or few-month term produces a compact table — sometimes just a single row. It's on longer, multi-year projections, especially on the Savings growth tab with a recurring monthly contribution turned on, where the table has the most to show.
When the table beats the chart
The chart is still the faster way to eyeball a shape: does the balance grow roughly linearly, or does it visibly curve upward as compounding takes over in later years? For that kind of at-a-glance read, bars work fine. But the moment you need an actual number — say, exactly how much interest accrued in year 6, or exactly what the balance was right before a planned withdrawal in year 4 — a bar's height is an estimate at best. The table removes the guesswork.
- Checking the exact balance at a specific milestone year, rather than reading it off a bar.
- Seeing how much of a given year's growth came from your contribution versus from interest.
- Copying or referencing precise year-by-year figures for your own notes or a spreadsheet.
A worked example
Say, purely as an illustration, someone runs the Savings growth tab with a $10,000 starting balance, a 4.50% APY, monthly compounding, a $100 monthly contribution, and a 10-year horizon. The chart shows ten bars, each one visibly taller than the last, growth clearly accelerating toward the end. Toggling on the accumulation table turns that same projection into ten precise rows: year 1's exact starting balance, exact contributions ($1,200 for the year, in this example), exact interest earned, and exact ending balance — then year 2 picks up from year 1's ending figure, and so on through year 10. Instead of estimating "the balance looks like it's around $13,000-ish by year 3," the table just tells you the number.
Worth noting: this example is hypothetical, for illustration only, and not a projection for any specific bank, account, or rate — actual figures depend on your own inputs and your bank's actual terms.
Frequently asked questions
What's new in the accumulation schedule table?
The CD & Savings Calculator's CD and Savings growth tabs now include a toggleable, detailed year-by-year accumulation schedule table alongside the existing bar-style growth chart. It's hidden by default behind a "Show detailed year-by-year accumulation schedule" button, and it lists, for each year, the starting balance, any contributions made that year, interest earned, and the ending balance.
Do I have to turn the accumulation table on, or is it always shown?
It's optional and off by default. The growth chart's simple bar visualization still displays automatically once you calculate. The full numeric table only appears after you click the toggle button beneath the chart, and clicking it again hides the table and reverts the button label, so the calculator stays uncluttered unless you specifically want the row-by-row numbers.
What columns does the accumulation table show?
Each row represents one year and shows the starting balance for that year, the amount contributed during the year (this column only appears when you've entered a recurring contribution), the interest earned that year, and the ending balance carried into the next row. This lets you see exactly how much of each year's growth came from your own deposits versus compounding.
Is the accumulation table available on both the CD tab and the Savings growth tab?
Yes, it's part of the growth section that appears with results on both the CD calculator tab and the Savings growth tab, since both produce a year-by-year balance projection. On the CD tab, a single-year term simply produces a one-row table; multi-year projections on the Savings growth tab, especially with recurring contributions, are where the table becomes most useful.
Why add a table if there's already a growth chart?
The bar chart is great for a quick visual sense of how a balance grows over time, but reading an exact dollar figure off a bar's height is imprecise. The table exists for the moments you want to check an exact number, such as the exact interest earned in year 4 or the exact ending balance in year 7, without needing to estimate from a bar's length.