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CD Ladder Calculator

Split a total across staggered-maturity CDs at their own APYs, with each rung's value and the blended APY.

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CD Ladder Calculator works straight from this page — free, instant, nothing to install. You will find it under Savings & budgeting, with 529 College Savings Calculator and Acid-Test (Quick) Ratio Calculator for the neighbouring cases.

How to use it

  1. Open the tool — no signup or install needed.
  2. Enter your input or adjust the available options.
  3. Get your result instantly, then copy or download it.

Frequently asked questions

What does CD Ladder Calculator do?

Split a total across staggered-maturity CDs at their own APYs, with each rung's value and the blended APY.

When would I actually use this?

Planning a deposit, a safety net or a large purchase: how much to put aside each month, and how long a target takes at a given rate.

What is the most common mistake?

Reading a nominal rate as if it were real. Inflation is subtracted from the return, not from the capital, so a 3% account during 4% inflation loses purchasing power every year.

Is there a tool for the next step?

Acid-Test (Quick) Ratio Calculator is the closest one after this: Add cash, securities and receivables, divide by current liabilities, and see exactly what excluding inventory and prepaid expenses costs the ratio.

What else is worth having open alongside it?

Alimony / Spousal Support Calculator and Certificate of Deposit (CD) Calculator — they come up in the same task often enough to be worth a second tab.

Where do the figures come from?

Compound interest is arithmetic, so the maths is exact for the rate you enter. Real accounts vary in compounding frequency, tax treatment and whether interest is credited before or after a deposit.

Further reading

All guides →
GuideWhat a Deposit Ladder Actually Costs: $141.92 Over Five YearsSplit $50,000 into five rungs instead of one five-year deposit and you end year five with $61,573.20 instead of $61,715.12. The whole liquidity option costs $141.92, once, during the ramp — and it is worth $1,049.24 if rates rise a point.ExplainerWhat a Child Costs Is a Marginal Cost, Not a BillThe USDA's figure of 233,610 dollars for a middle-income child born in 2015 — 317,315 restated in 2025 money — is not a sum of receipts. It is allocated household spending, and the housing line is measured as the cost of one more bedroom.ExplainerThree Different Rules Get Called "The 529 Rule"Qualified expenses, the K-12 cap and state tax treatment are three separate rules, and only the first two are federal. The K-12 cap doubled to 20,000 dollars for tax years from 2026; a federally qualified withdrawal can still be a state recapture event.ExplainerCollege Costs Compound for Eighteen Years Before Anyone EnrolsA four-year public in-state budget is 30,990 dollars today. Eighteen years out at 4 percent cost inflation the same four years cost 266,593 — 2.15 times the sticker you can see now. And the sticker was never the price: the average net cost of attendance is 21,340.ExplainerThe Alimony Formulas Agree on the Amount and Not on the DurationTwo of the three published US alimony guidelines are the same formula written twice: on 150,000 and 30,000 dollars of gross income both give 3,250 a month. What separates them is duration — 2.1 years or 10.5 — and that turns one marriage into 81,900 or 409,500.ExplainerChild Support Is a Shared Cost, Not a Slice of One SalaryIncome shares asks what two parents together would have spent, then splits it. On $5,000 and $3,000 with two children the schedule says $2,257.37, the shares are 62.5 and 37.5 percent, and after 90 overnights the order is $1,301.47 a month.