FD Laddering Calculator

FD laddering is a fixed-deposit investment strategy where, instead of locking a lumpsum into a single FD with one maturity date and one interest rate, an investor splits the amount across multiple FDs with staggered tenures — for example, 1, 2, 3, and 4 years. As each FD matures, its proceeds can either be withdrawn for liquidity needs or reinvested into a new long-tenure FD, keeping the ladder going. This strategy solves two problems that a single FD can't: it avoids locking the entire corpus into today's interest rate (which may look attractive now but poor if rates rise later), and it provides periodic liquidity — a portion of the corpus matures every year — without breaking any FD early and losing the accrued interest premium to a penalty. This calculator lets you auto-generate an equal-split ladder, build a fully custom ladder FD-by-FD, or simulate how a ladder compounds over many years with continuous reinvestment.

Per-FD Maturity Value: P × (1 + r/n)^(n×t)

Where:
- P = Principal for that FD
- r = Annual interest rate (as decimal)
- n = Compounding periods per year (12/4/2/1)
- t = Tenure in years

Blended Effective Yield (y): solves
Total Maturity Value = Total Invested × (1 + y)^(weighted-avg tenure in years)

FD Ladder

A set of Fixed Deposits with staggered maturities, built by splitting one lumpsum across multiple FDs of different tenures instead of one single FD.

Rung

One individual FD within a ladder — defined by its own amount, tenure, interest rate, and compounding frequency.

Blended Effective Yield

The single flat annual rate that would have produced the same total maturity value as the entire ladder, given the ladder's investment-weighted average tenure.

Rolling Ladder

A ladder strategy where each FD, upon maturity, is reinvested into a new FD at the ladder's longest tenure — keeping the ladder structure going indefinitely.