A reserve funding projection shows, year by year, what goes into the reserve fund, what comes out for replacements, and what is left. If the balance drops below zero in any year, the plan does not cover the work. Enter your balance, contributions and components to see all 30 years, then solve for the contribution that keeps the fund above your minimum.
Components
Replacement cost is today's price. Useful life is how long it lasts in total. Remaining life is the years until the next replacement.
| Component | Replacement cost today ($) | Useful life (yrs) | Remaining life (yrs) | Remove |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Enter a starting balance, a contribution and at least one component, and the 30-year projection appears here.
total 30-year spend
balance at the end of year 30
| Year | Opening | Contribution | Interest | Expenditures | Closing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Red rows are years the balance is below zero. Yellow rows are years below your minimum balance.
With your inputs
Solve uses a binary search: it tries a contribution, runs all 30 years, and narrows the range until it finds the smallest whole-dollar amount where no year closes below your minimum.
Start a 30-day free trial, no card needed. Keep the full component inventory, the 30-year plan and the report in one place.
It is a year-by-year forecast of a reserve fund: the opening balance, contributions, interest, replacement expenses and the closing balance for each of the next 30 years. It shows whether the planned contributions are enough to pay for the work as it comes due.
Many of the most expensive components, such as roofs, paving and elevators, last 20 to 30 years. A shorter forecast can miss them entirely. Thirty years is the usual minimum in reserve studies and is written into several state laws.
It searches for the smallest starting annual contribution that keeps every year's closing balance at or above your minimum balance, or above zero if you leave the minimum blank. It keeps the yearly increase, interest and inflation you entered.
Use the rates in your reserve study if you have one. Otherwise, use the rate your reserve accounts actually earn after tax for interest, and a rate based on recent local construction costs for inflation. Small changes in either one move the result a lot over 30 years, so try a few values.
No. A reserve study includes a professional's assessment of each component's condition, life and cost. This tool only does the arithmetic on the figures you enter.
It is scheduled again every useful-life years after its first replacement, at the inflated cost for that year. A 20 year roof due in 5 years appears in year 5 and again in year 25.