Counted once — your starting balance on day one.
Added every month, for the whole projection.
▶ Not sure what to save? Prefill it from your military pay
The 50/30/20 rule puts 20% of pay toward savings. We'll fill the monthly deposit with 20% of your 2026 basic pay — edit it after if you'd save more or less.
At the 5-year mark
$930 more with VetraFi
Your balance, year by year
Same deposits in both accounts — the gap is pure interest rate.
Every milestone, side by side
Balances = everything you've put in by that point (one-time + monthly deposits) plus compound interest. Tap a row to spotlight that milestone in the headline.
| Milestone | You put in | High-yield | National avg | Your edge |
|---|
The 3.00% APY figure is a hypothetical example representative of high-yield savings account rates — not a rate or offer from VetraFi or any bank. National average savings rate: 0.38% APY per the FDIC, as of June 15, 2026. Savings rates are variable; projections assume rates hold and deposits are made monthly — a hypothetical illustration, not a guarantee.
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How we calculate this
APY (annual percentage yield) already reflects compounding, so we convert each APY to an equivalent monthly growth factor — (1 + APY)^(1/12) — grow the balance every month, and add your monthly deposit at the end of each month. Both accounts get identical deposits on identical dates; the only difference is the rate. "Your edge" is the high-yield balance minus the national-average balance at that milestone. Interest is what the account earned beyond what you put in. Taxes aren't modeled (savings interest is taxable the same way in both accounts) and rates are assumed constant for the projection — real savings rates are variable and move over time.
High-yield savings questions, answered straight
What's the catch with a high-yield savings account?
There isn't one — the rate difference is a business-model difference. Big branch banks pay near zero because deposits stay anyway; online-first accounts pay more to earn yours. Your money isn't locked up like a CD, and deposits at an FDIC-member bank are insured up to $250,000 per depositor, per bank, per ownership category. The main thing to watch is that savings rates are variable and can change over time.
Why does a small rate difference get so big over time?
Compounding. At 0.38% APY, interest barely feeds back into the balance. At 3.00% APY, every year's interest earns its own interest the next year — and when you're also adding a monthly deposit, each deposit starts compounding from the month it lands. That's why the gap between the two lines above keeps widening instead of staying parallel.
How much should I keep in savings on military pay?
A common target is 3–6 months of expenses as an emergency fund, then keep saving toward goals. The 50/30/20 rule is a simple starting split: 50% needs, 30% wants, 20% savings. Junior enlisted living in the barracks can often push past 20%, since housing and meals are already covered — that's the single biggest savings advantage of your first enlistment.
Where does the "national average" number come from?
The FDIC publishes national deposit rates on the third Monday of every month, averaging what U.S. banks actually pay on savings accounts. As of June 15, 2026 that average is 0.38% APY. It's the fairest public benchmark for "what a typical savings account pays" — and it's the exact number this calculator compares against.