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Build a Savings Goal Tracker in Google Sheets (Emergency Fund, Monthly Amount Needed, Progress Bars)

#googlesheets #productivity #tutorial #beginners

"Save more" never works as a plan. "Put $112 a month into the car fund until June" does. This Google Sheets tracker turns each savings goal into a monthly number, logs every deposit, and draws a progress bar so you can see it filling up. It takes about fifteen minutes.

Step 1: A deposit log

Make a tab called Log with three headers in row 1:

A: Date B: Goal C: Amount
10/01/2026 Emergency fund 100
10/15/2026 Car repair 50

Every time you move money into savings, add a row. Format A as a date and C as currency. Withdrawals go in as negative numbers.

Step 2: The goals tab

Make a tab called Goals with these headers:

A: Goal B: Target C: Saved D: Target date E: Remaining F: Months left G: Needed per month H: % done I: Progress
Emergency fund 3000 06/01/2027
Car repair 800 02/01/2027

The goal names have to match the names you type in the Log exactly.

Step 3: Pull the saved total from the log

In C2:

=SUMIFS(Log!C:C, Log!B:B, A2)
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Now you never edit "Saved" by hand. It's always the sum of your real deposits.

Step 4: Remaining and months left

In E2:

=MAX(B2-C2, 0)
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In F2 (at least 1 month, so a past date doesn't break the math):

=IF(D2<=TODAY(), 1, MAX(1, DATEDIF(TODAY(), D2, "M")))
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Step 5: The number that matters

In G2:

=IF(E2=0, 0, E2/F2)
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Format it as currency. That's what you need to set aside each month to hit the goal on time. If the total of column G is more than you can afford, push a target date back instead of quietly giving up on the goal.

Step 6: Percent done and a progress bar

In H2 (format as a percent):

=IF(B2=0, 0, MIN(C2/B2, 1))
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In I2:

=SPARKLINE(H2, {"charttype","bar"; "max",1; "color1","#2e9e5b"})
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Drag C2:I2 down. Each goal now has a little green bar that grows with every deposit.

Step 7: Size your emergency fund

Off to the side, list your must-pay monthly costs (rent, utilities, groceries, insurance, minimum debt payments, transportation) in K2:L8, with the amounts in column L. Then:

Monthly essentials:

=SUM(L2:L8)
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Three-month and six-month targets:

=SUM(L2:L8)*3
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=SUM(L2:L8)*6
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Put the three-month number in B2 as your emergency fund target. Once you hit it, you can raise it toward six months.

Step 8: One summary line

Total you need to save per month across every goal:

=SUM(G2:G20)
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Compare that with what your budget actually leaves over. If they match, you have a real plan.

Done

You now have a savings tracker that logs deposits, works out the monthly amount for each goal, and shows a progress bar for each one.

If you'd rather start from a finished sheet, I make templates as Financely Templates (disclosure: these are my products):

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