Investment growth calculator Canada

It projects how a portfolio could grow from a lump sum plus regular monthly or yearly contributions, at an expected annual return, over a number of years. Unlike a plain growth tool, it shows the result two ways: the raw future value and the same balance in today's dollars after inflation — so you can see what your money would actually buy, not just a big future number.

Because inflation quietly shrinks what a dollar buys. A portfolio worth $450,000 in 25 years will not feel like $450,000 does today — at 2.5% inflation it buys closer to what $240,000 buys now. Showing the real, after-inflation value is the honest way to judge a long-term plan, and it's the main thing that sets this investment growth calculator apart from a simple compound-growth tool.

Use a long-run average for what you actually hold. A balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds has historically returned roughly 5–7% a year before inflation; an all-equity portfolio more, with bigger swings; GICs and savings less. Many Canadians plan with 6% and sanity-check a conservative 4–5%. Remember this is a straight-line estimate — real markets zig-zag, and a bad early stretch matters more than the average suggests.

No — the projection is before tax and before investment fees. In a TFSA growth is tax-free and in an RRSP it is tax-deferred, but in a non-registered account you pay tax along the way. Fees bite too: a 1–2% MER can quietly erase a large slice of the growth shown here. See our investment fee calculator to measure that drag, and the RRSP vs TFSA guide to choose where to hold it.

A great deal — often more than the starting lump sum over a long horizon. Because every contribution begins compounding the day it lands, steady monthly investing builds a surprisingly large share of the final balance. Try setting the lump sum to $0 and the monthly amount to what you can realistically save: for most people, consistent contributions plus time do more of the work than a single big deposit.

The Bank of Canada targets 2% inflation, and it has averaged roughly 2–3% over the long run, with occasional spikes. For the today's-dollars view, 2.5% is a reasonable middle estimate. Using a higher number makes the real value smaller and your plan more conservative — a useful stress test if you are projecting decades out.

If your income rises, increasing contributions even slightly each year compounds powerfully. The contribution step-up in Advanced options models this: set it to the raise you expect — say 2–3% a year — and your contribution grows automatically. Because each larger amount still has years to compound, a modest annual step-up can add a meaningful sum to the final balance versus a flat contribution.

Treat it as a shape, not a forecast. It assumes a constant return every year, which never happens — markets rise and fall, and the order of those returns (especially early on) changes the outcome. Use it to compare scenarios and feel how contributions, rate, time and inflation interact, then revisit the numbers yearly. It is a planning aid, not a guarantee.

For most Canadians the order is TFSA first (tax-free growth and flexible withdrawals), then RRSP (tax-deferred, good in higher-income years), then non-registered once those are full. Sheltering the growth keeps far more of the compounding shown here. Our RRSP vs TFSA guide and couch potato investing guide walk through how to set this up simply with low-cost index funds.