This New Zealand calculator helps savers build a term deposit ladder, a strategy that splits your money across several term deposits maturing at different times to balance access with higher rates. You enter your total amount and the ladder structure, and the tool shows how each tranche matures in turn, giving you regular access to a portion of your money while keeping the rest earning, and letting you reinvest at prevailing rates as each matures. The breakdown displays each rung of the ladder, its maturity date, and the interest earned, helping savers avoid locking everything away at once or leaving it all in low-interest accounts, and understand a strategy that smooths interest rate risk over time.
| Rung | Amount | Term (months) | Interest |
|---|
This applies your single rate across each rung for its term, on a simple basis, before tax. In practice longer terms often pay slightly higher rates, and resident withholding tax applies to interest. As each rung matures you can reinvest at the longest term to keep the ladder going. Estimate only, not financial advice.
The calculator divides your total equally across the number of rungs, with each rung set to a progressively longer term using your chosen spacing. It works out the interest each rung earns over its term and adds them up. The shortest rung gives you access soonest, while the longest earns the most. When a rung matures, reinvesting it at the longest term turns your ladder into a rolling cycle where a portion always matures soon.
Splitting $50,000 into four rungs of $12,500 maturing at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months, at 5% interest, the rungs earn roughly $156, $312, $469 and $625 respectively, about $1,562 in total over the year, while giving you access to a chunk every three months.
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