CD Ladder Calculator
Build a CD ladder with up to five rungs. See the interest from each CD and the money freed up every year.
A CD ladder splits your money across CDs of different lengths. One matures every year.
You get access to some cash each year and the higher rates of longer CDs on the rest.
How it works
The total is split equally across the rungs. Each rung compounds at its own APY until it matures.
When the one year CD matures you reinvest it as a new long CD. The ladder then rolls on forever.
The formula
Rung value = per rung x (1 + APY)^term.
Tips
- Ladders remove the need to guess where rates are heading.
- Unused rungs are ignored, so leave their rates alone if you pick fewer than five.
Frequently asked questions
Why not just buy the highest rate CD?
Because you may need the money sooner, and rates may rise. A ladder hedges both.
This is not financial advice. Nothing on this site is investment, tax, legal or financial advice of any kind.
The calculators give simplified estimates from the numbers you enter. They ignore taxes, fees, rate changes and real market returns, and they can be wrong.
Do not make financial decisions based on these results. Speak to a licensed financial adviser, accountant or lender before acting, and read the full disclaimer.